HUMAN RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED ON BOTH SIDES OF BORDER OF KARABAKH

KarabakhOpen
26-04-2007 11:29:04

"I do not consider it as a victory or achievement, because the
statement in the U.S. Department of State report on Azerbaijan did
not change. Besides, the American co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group
Matthew Bryza stated yesterday that there will be no more changes to
the report of the U.S. Department of State," said Vahram Atanesyan,
chair of the Committee of External Relations, in an interview with
the KarabakhOpen.

The member of parliament commented on the situation after the
U.S. State Department made changes to the Armenia country report on
human rights practices.

The statement "Armenia continues to occupy the Azerbaijani territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories"
was replaced by " Armenian forces occupy large portions of Azerbaijan
territory adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian officials maintain
that they do not "occupy" Nagorno-Karabakh itself." Official Armenia
presented the amendment to the report as a major achievement of the
Armenian diplomacy.

"I appreciate more the stance of the United States which mediates
the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, and states that the future
status of Karabakh should be defined through talks. It is a more
balanced approach than the one which was stated in the report of
the U.S. Department of State. Although I have to note that it is
strange when the report on human rights includes such statements. If
the violation of human rights in the result of the Karabakh conflict
is meant, these rights were violated on both sides of the border –
Azerbaijan launched a policy of violence and deportation against
the Armenian population when the Soviet Union still existed. The
peaceful Armenian population of the territories adjacent to the former
Autonomous Region of Nagorno-Karabakh was also deported. However,
it should not be viewed on the same level because the deportation of
the Azerbaijani population took place during the military actions,
and the evacuation of the population was organized by the Azerbaijani
government for the security of these people. However, even if the
stress of the report were on this, it would be clear, but it is not
clear how the status of Nagorno-Karabakh is linked to human rights,
especially that the report does not maintain that the rights of the
Armenians of Karabakh were also violated," Vahram Atanesyan said.

The member of parliament thinks the report of the Department of State
is highly politicized in this respect, "which is not appropriate for
the Department of State of such an authoritative country." "For me,
I accept the stance of the United States, which does not predetermine
the status of NKR," said Vahram Atanesyan. The member of parliament
said he understands Vardan Oskanyan because it is the pre-election
period, and "it is possible that certain accents in Vardan Oskanyan’s
words had notes of propaganda."