WILL THE PACE ADMIT TO BE DECEIVED?

Friday, 13 March 2015 15:42

On October 2, 2014, MP from the UK Robert Walter was appointed the
Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(PACE) on the situation in Nagorno Karabakh. This event could be
considered a routine procedure in the framework of the rules of this
European organization, if not a “but.” The matter is that Mr. Walter
has long been known for his pro-Azerbaijani stance, which was once
again confirmed by his report on Nagorno Karabakh.

The very name of this, I may say, document – rather pretentious and
provocative – testifies eloquently to the political allegiances of
the British parliamentarian and his apparent bias. And if broadly, it
testifies also to his morality, or more precisely, its absence. And
the report is entitled… “The escalation of violence in Nagorno
Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan”. This very
fact proves the bias of the report, the contents of which can be
left unread, because the dirty ears of Azerbaijan are sticking out
of it full-length. As for the ears of Walter himself, when preparing
the report, they proved to be quite receptive to the prompting of
official Baku, which, apparently, didn’t scant to cajole the British
parliamentarian.

Elementary logic dictates that for the preparation of such a report one
must have at least some idea of the Karabakh conflict – its origins,
evolution, and current stage of development. Such knowledge would
allow preparing a possibly objective material, reality reflecting
the aspects of the issue, which, in turn, is a guarantee of finding
efficient ways to its solution. Based on the title of the report,
we can make two conclusions. First, Walter did not have the slightest
idea of the essence of the conflict, which he took up to explore. The
second, which is much worse for him, is that he is aware of the issue,
but deliberately, in favor of Azerbaijan, is distorting its essence
in order to present a falsified report at the PACE. Here, completely
raises the issue of the reputation of the proper PACE, which actually
admits to be deceived. But, let us leave the issue of its honor and
dignity upon this international organization itself, if, surely,
it is concerned about its own reputation, and we’ll recall Walter.

The actions of the British give us all the grounds to make the
second conclusion. Common sense dictates that to study the situation
in Nagorno Karabakh, Walter should at least visit it. Meanwhile,
according to press reports, on March 13, within the framework of
preparation of the report on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the MEP
was due to pay an acquainting visit only to Baku, where his meetings
with the Azerbaijani President, Parliament Speaker and Ministers of
Foreign Affairs, Justice and Defense were scheduled. Apparently, for
the presentation of his brainchild to the customer. According to Chief
of the Central Information Department of the NKR President’s Office
David Babayan, official Stepanakert hasn’t received any application
for a visit to Artsakh; neither has the leadership of Armenia. “It is
clear that this report will be yet another politicized anti-Armenian
document. A report with such a title, philosophy, and content is
unacceptable for us – we are not afraid or do not want to hide
anything, we just state that the report must be unbiased and must
reflect the reality”, David Babayan stressed.

Strictly speaking, the NKR authorities have every right not to allow
Walter to visit the Republic, even if he desires this, as, despite the
request of the Karabakh party, he refused to change the name of the
report. The leadership of Artsakh is ready to cooperate with those who
are truly interested in establishing peace in the region; meanwhile,
in this case the PACE platform, at the whim of Azerbaijan, is used not
for the resolution of the conflict, but for the escalation of tension.

After all, the wording “escalation of violence in Nagorno Karabakh and
other occupied territories of Azerbaijan”, taken from the vocabulary
of official Baku, groundlessly considers historical Artsakh, which
has never been a part of independent Azerbaijan, as the territory of
the latter. It turns out that the autochthonal population of Artsakh
“occupied”… Artsakh? Absurd, and only.

Meanwhile, the truth is that it was Azerbaijan that, to prevent
the self-determination of the people of Artsakh, committed armed
aggression, as a result of which part of the NKR territory is still
under occupation. And more. Accepting similar wordings, the PACE, in
fact, forecasts the outcome of the ongoing negotiations, thus striking
both the prestige of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, who are working
to find a solution to the conflict, and the entire settlement process.

This means that with the hands of Walter Azerbaijan plans to solve
yet another issue – by discrediting the co-chairs, whom it has long
accused of inactivity, to prevent the peacemaking process in the
framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Definitely, the one-sided interpretation of the Karabakh conflict and
its consequences, the protection of the amoral position of Azerbaijan,
which hasn’t abandoned the crazy idea of a new war against the NKR,
cannot serve the supreme goals of peace and cooperation between
peoples, which are declared by the PACE. The slavish activities of
Walter and those like him only inflame the annexionistisch appetite
of the Azerbaijani criminal regime. And in this context, the report
concocted by the British MP is not only harmful, but also extremely
dangerous.

Leonid MARTIROSSIAN Editor-in-Chief of Azat Artsakh newspaper