Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) Bureau session adopted a decision on 28 January to re-establish the ad hoc committee on the Nagorno-Karabakh. On 25 January Armenian delegation members to PACE addressed a letter to PACE Bureau introducing the concerns of the Armenian side. “We asked the Bureau secretariat to hand the letter to the Bureau members, in order they were introduced to our explanations, but the secretariat didn’t implement our recommendation,”, - said Panorama.am PACE delegate Naira Zohrabyan from Strasbourg
In that letter Armenian delegation wrote about ongoing discussions concerning the role of the PACE in promoting favourable environment for the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the modalities therein. Here are some arguments from that letter.
First argument of Armenian delegation
“A genuine process aimed at achieving de-escalation in the relations between the two delegations should be subject to discreet consultations between the two delegations, with a mediation of a third party. In this context, it should be stressed that despite the fact that we oppose the wordings, formulations and the general tone of Resolution 1416 of the Parliamentary Assembly, the members of the Armenian delegation have engaged in consultations mediated by the President of the Assembly in order to seek measures, which could truly serve the purpose of establishing tangible results aimed at de-escalation of the tension between the two delegations. Specific measures to this end should be discussed. The Armenian side has been committed to such objective and has come forward with concrete proposals, which remain valid. Unfortunately none of these measures have been discussed at all.
Moreover, in October 2010 agreement was reached to consider within such trilateral format proposals from the Secretariat on possible scenarios concerning the way forward. The present situation whereby the proposal of the Secretariat is directly forwarded to the Bureau is in breach of such agreement and represents a forceful attempt to establish a situation denoting a fait accompli. Such situation gives grounds for the Armenian delegation to question genuine, impartial and fair intentions of the Bureau to seek reconciliation and to exercise responsibility in a highly sensitive matter.
Discussions of such measures within an enlarged format, whether we name it ad hoc committee or whichever other body, so far as it involves public discussions in the presence of a larger group, is tantamount to a mere creation of yet another platform for acrimonious rhetoric and mutual accusations. We do not wish to participate in such exercise as we believe it is counterproductive. The actions of the Parliamentary Assembly should, at any cost, discourage any of the parties concerned to use the Assembly platform for propaganda and mutual accusations.”
Second argument of Armenian delegation
“It should be reminded that the position adopted by all bodies of the Council of Europe strictly adheres to non-interference in the mainstream negotiating process for the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict conducted within the format of the co-chairmanship of the OSCE. Ironically, while the present proposal to Bureau also reflects on the notion of “focusing on questions, which may be tackled without interfering in the negotiating process”, the open ended mandate as formulated in the proposal directly concerns exactly such issues which are dealt with within the negotiating process of the OSCE Minsk group co-chairmanship.
In this context it would be most appropriate to recall the latest Joint Statement by the Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries and the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, adopted in Astana on 1 December 2010.
Furthermore, it is pertinent to recall that in their Joint Statement made in Almaty on 17 July 2010, the Heads of Delegations of the Minsk Group Co-Chair countries
Specifically underline that the proposed elements constituting the negotiating package “have been conceived as an integrated whole, and any attempt to select some elements over others would make it impossible to achieve a balanced solution”. The text of this statement is also attached to this letter.
Those statements are sufficient enough to conclude that within this comprehensive package of negotiations there is no room for interference by another body or pretension to being capable of or serious about dealing with any of these issues in isolation from all others, even if they may appear as being of only a humanitarian nature”.
ANNA ISRAELYAN
P. S The position of Azerbaijani delegation about this issue you can read here
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