ARMENIA WORRIES FOR MINORITIES IN AZERBAIJAN

Lragir
Oct 8 2007
Armenia

The Armenian parliamentary delegation offered two proposals during the
fall session of the PACE. The head of the delegation Davit Harutiunyan
told news reporters October 8 after returning from Strasburg that
the Armenian delegation requested the CoE Committee of Ministers
to attend to the violation of the European Culture Convention by
Azerbaijan. "According to the convention, cultural monuments are open
to visitors. Meanwhile, with regard to Nakhidjevan, the cemetery of
Old Djolfa, the visits of international missions were impeded, which
is a violation of the Convention. We urged the committee of ministers
to make efforts to enable the CoE missions," Davit Harutiunyan says.

He raised this issue during the meetings with Terry Davis, CoE
Secretary General, and Russell Johnston, president of the PACE
commission for the Karabakh issue. Davit Harutiunyan spoke about
Azerbaijan’s efforts to prevent visits of international missions. The
head of the Azerbaijani delegation say he told Davis and Johnston that
traveling to Karabakh via Azerbaijan is not secure, and if there is
an issue, it should be discussed with Karabakh.

The Armenian delegation offered another proposal during the fall
session of the PACE. Davit Harutiunyan said they proposed preparing a
report on ethnic communities in Azerbaijan. "The barbaric destruction
of the Narimanov cemetery is concerned. It violated the basic rights
of the Jewish, Russian, Georgian and Armenian communities," Davit
Harutiunyan says. He says Serbia, France, Great Britain, Czech,
Finland, Portugal, Russia supported the proposal. "The issue will
be put to discussion, later a decision will be made on preparing a
report," Davit Harutiunyan says.