BRITISH-NAGORNO KARABAKH ALL-PARTY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP WAS LAUNCHED IN UK HOUSE OF LORDS

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.12.2009 14:58 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ New "British-Nagorno Karabakh All-Party Parliamentary
Group" was launched in Committee Room 2 of the House of Lords,
British Parliament.

The instigator is Viscount John Desmond Waverley, a former member of
the British-Armenian All-Party Parliamentary Group, who is engaged now
in creating a Parliamentary Group for a country to which he cannot
gain entrance but was able to visit in 1996 only when he posed as
a dedicated member of the British-Armenian All-Party Parliamentary
Group and was welcomed by the Karabakh Authorities , upon the Armenian
Group`s recommendation .

In the British Parliament, hundreds of Parliamentary Groups are
founded by Parliamentarians who declare their interest in the
most varied issues. By initiating the British-Nagorno Karabakh
All-Party Parliamentary Group , Lord Waverley and Baroness Symons
have acknowledged the existence of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh ,
obviously aware of the fact that during a Referendum in 1991 the people
of Nagorno-Karabakh declared their independence and have , since then,
held five presidential and four parliamentary elections confirmed
by International Observers to be in compliance with International
Electoral Standards and with utmost transparency.

It is of grave concern to the Armenian Group that Baroness Symons and
Lord Waverley have contacted neither the Elected Representatives of
Nagorno Karabakh, nor the Armenian Embassy in UK nor the Committee
Members of the Armenian Parliamentary Group to receive accurate
information about the situation in that country. By not including
the Karabakh Authorities participation, all their future statements
will lack accuracy and will create a unique precedent in the annals
of the British Parliament: initiating a Parliamentary Group without
its subject being involved in the process!

Lord Waverley and Baroness Symons must bear full responsibility
and face the consequences of the great danger that any inadequately
informed statement by their Group might harm, delay or jeopardize the
current process of peaceful settlement advocated by the International
Organizations who are engaged in the possible resolution of this
very complex conflict. Organizations to which Britain is an active
and concerned Member.

The Armenian Group would welcome the cooperation of this newly
formed Group with its Members, with the Members of the Parliament of
Nagorno-Karabakh and the Diplomatic Corps of the Armenian Embassy
and would encourage active correspondence, exchange of policy
and information by facilitating a visit to Karabakh of British
Parliamentarians (including Members of the Karabakh Group), where
they will be able to obtain the true understanding of that country,
its culture, history and aspirations.