PACE RAPPORTEUR ON KARABAKH “SLIPPED ON BANANA PEEL” OF IGNORANCE OF KARABAKH ISSUE
YEREVAN, APRIL 6. ARMINFO. PACE rapporteur on Karabakh David Atkinson
has “slipped on the banana peal” of ignorance of the Karabakh issue,
says former Russian co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group Vladimir Kazimirov.
The gist of the issue is in the problems of the Armenian population
of Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous District with the Azeri authorities
that turned eventually into bloody confrontation. Kazimirov says that
he avoids using the “aggression” term – this is the prerogative of
the UN Security Council. He agrees that Western experts would better
familiarize themselves with the Soviet laws according to which Karabakh
seceded from Azeri Soviet Republic. Atkinson did not know that, he
just saw what was on the surface – that Armenian armed forces are in
the territories located far from Karabakh. But he should have first
gone to Karabakh at least once to see what the reality is. At the
same time Kazimirov notes that things should be given their proper
names and occupied territories are occupied territories irrespective
of any emotions.