EU-Azeri committee meetings ends in argument over double standards

ANS TV, Baku
19 Apr 05

[Presenter] Another scandal has occurred at a meeting of the
Azerbaijan-EU parliamentary cooperation committee. The statement
and proposals adopted by the EU-Armenia parliamentary cooperation
committee in Strasbourg have angered some MPs.

[Correspondent over video of meeting] The sixth meeting of the
Azerbaijan-EU parliamentary cooperation committee started with
a scandal. Sirus Tabrizli, Azerbaijani co-chair of the committee,
refused to attend the meeting and walked out, pointing to the statement
and proposals adopted by the EU-Armenia parliamentary cooperation
committee in Strasbourg on 13-14 April.

Clause 26 of the document says the EU wants the Karabakh problem to
be resolved in line with the norms of international law, specifically
in accordance with the right to self-determination and respect for
ethnic minorities.

Other interesting points in the document are related to
Armenian-Turkish relations. The document urges Turkey to try to open
its borders with Armenia and pay more attention to the issue of the
so-called Armenian genocide.

On seeing the unexpected development of events, Marie [Anne] Isler
Beguin, the other co-chair of the committee, tried to clarify the
issue.

[Beguin, speaking in French with Azeri voice-over] There is nothing
unusual here. These are only proposals, which may or may not be
accepted. Our position is that the conflict should be resolved with
the efforts of both sides.

[Correspondent] However, Ms Beguin’s speech did not ease the tension
at the meeting. Namiq Aliyev, head of the parliament’s international
relations department, accused the European parliamentarians of applying
double standards against Azerbaijan. He said the European MPs’ attitude
towards the conflict is against the norms of international law.

MP Gular Ahmadova said ethnic minorities were facing no problems
in Azerbaijan. She said official Baku supports the resolution of
the conflict only on the basis of the principle of Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity.

Then the second part of the meeting, which had to draft a statement
of the committee, started behind closed doors. There were some
disagreements in this part of the meeting, too. The sides could not
agree on the fact that Azerbaijan’s territories have been occupied
by Armenia.

[MP Gular Ahmadova] We said that the aggressor must be named and that
it must be made clear which territories have been occupied. If we call
for withdrawal from Azerbaijan’s occupied territories, we have to make
it clear who we urge to do so. We urge Armenia. We insisted on this,
but could not reach an agreement.

[Interrupted sentence omitted]

[Correspondent] Although the aggressor was not named in the end, the
document said the conflict should be resolved on the basis of the
principle of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, and confirmed the
resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on
this issue.