Nagorno Karabakh President Press Secretary David Babayan. (Source: Panorama.am)
STEPANAKERT (Combined Sources) — According to the Nagorno-Karabakh President Press Secretary David Babayan, adoption of “Sarsang” resolution in Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is a setback in European democracy.
PACE approved the resolution entitled “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water” (rapporteur Milica Markovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina) on January 26, while rejected second resolution titled, the “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan” (rapporteur Robert Walter, UK).
“In our opinion the fact of discussion and moreover approval of such non adequate, biased and paid up draft resolution is an evidence of European democracy’s failure against Azerbaijani authoritarianism. We follow this with regret taking into account that European democracy remains a showpiece of building a truly democratic state,” Babayan noted. At the same time the Press Secretary of Artsakh’s president noted that approval of such document cannot have any real consequences in negotiation process of Karabakh settlement. Babayan emphasized that PACE resolutions are exclusively advisable.
“Ultimately, we have offered Azerbaijan the chance to discuss the issue of using water resources of Sarsang water reservoir assuming that Artsakh would receive in exchange other resources such as hydrocarbon resources. However, most likely for Baku irrigation of its own territories bordering with Artsakh is insignificant issue, unlike the issue of profits from selling hydrocarbons,” Babayan summarized.
Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan added that the adoption of the resolution pours water over mill of Azerbaijan’s propaganda.
There was criticism towards the reports in the speeches given during the session.
Parliamentarian Rudy Salles (France, Member of the Group of the European People’s Party,) emphasized that Marković prepared the reports without ever being in the region. He added that the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan had agreed to continue the dialogue on the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and such reports would endanger the settlement process. However, the resolution still passed.
Source: Asbarez
Link: Adopted PACE Resolution Setback to European Democracy