Armenian parliamentarians inform PACE co-rapporteurs aftermaths of Azerbaijan's aggression

Armenian parliamentarians have informed PACE Monitoring Group co-rapporteurs of the aftermaths of Azerbaijan's aggression against Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).  

Talking to journalists, Tevan Poghosyan, Secretary of the Heritage opposition party parliamentary faction, said the main topic for discussion with the PACE monitors was the new Election Code, but the Karabakh conflict was discussed too. He said that the Armenian parliamentarians recalled that the Armenian side has always warned that the restrained stance of the world community to Azerbaijan's permanent ceasefire violations may spark violence in the region.

"We expressed hope that after the April aggression of Baku, PACE will stop neglecting such important issues and no longer observe parity when calling the sides for observation of the ceasefire," the parliamentarian said.  He said the European monitors promised to address that painful issue in a different way. "Perhaps it means that Europeans will no longer put on agenda the issues that are beyond their mandate," Poghosyan said. The parliamentarian hopes the PACE Monitoring Group co-rapprorteurs made such promises not because they were in Yerevan.

Armen Rustamyan, the head of ARFD Party parliamentary faction, in turn, said the Armenian parliamentarians hinted the European guests at how difficult it is to make reforms when the country's borders are shelled and Artsakh's security is endangered. 

"We offered them to travel to Artsakh or, at least, make targeted assessments clearly naming the side that unleashed aggression, Armenia and Artsakh had no motives to unleash war. Azerbaijan constantly speaks of the need to break the status quo and the negotiations were terminated just because of Azerbaijan," he said.

The parliamentarian said that the Armenian side has disclaimed Azerbaijan's statements that the war started as PACE did not adopt Robert Walter's report "Escalation of violence in Nagorno Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan."

"We said that it was the adoption of the report 'Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water' that greenlit Baku's aggression. It was not for nothing that the fighting was especially intensive near the Sarsang reservoir," he said. Rustamyan said the PACE monitors have generally agreed with the Armenian side's arguments and even weigh a visit to Artsakh to get firsthand view of the situation and try to prevent military actions.  "They comprehend that the Council of Europe has made serious omissions in the given issue," Rustamyan said.

Co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)  Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC) and Giuseppe Galati (Italy, EPP/CD), co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of obligations and commitments by Armenia, were on a fact-finding visit to the country on 11 and 12 May 2016, focusing on the follow-up to constitutional changes, electoral reform and the fight against corruption.  They met with President Serzh Sargsyan, Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan, Justice Minister Arpine Hovhannisyan, and Prosecutor general Gevorg Kostanyan.