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Chairman of Azerbaijani Delegation to EURONEST PA complains about Armenian parliamentarians to EURONEST and European Parliament leadership

09 April 2012 08:22 (UTC +04:00)

According to APA, the letter says that during the EURONEST PA session, particular measures were carried out to ensure the security of the Armenian Delegation in Baku, who were happy for the full ensuring of their security by the Azerbaijani side with high level professionalism. â€œAnd Mr. Vahan Hovhannisyan, Chairman of the Armenian Delegation, admitted that â€œthey noticed no aggression on the part of Azerbaijani MPs, the security workers and people, in general.â€ Thus, we tried to be inclusive hosts, caring for the security and welfare of all our guests, including of the Armenian delegation, and I believe that we succeeded in doing this.

Regretfully, I have to tell that after the session, during a press-conference in Yerevan, the Armenian Delegation voiced distorting opinions regarding the course of the session and tried to cast doubt on the achievements of the session. Mr. Vahan Hovhannisyan, Chairman of the Armenian Delegation, claims that â€œthe Armenian delegation was completely isolated from mass media and European MPsâ€ and that only by using his â€œsecret revolutionary tricksâ€, he managed to give an interview. Regarding this point, Iâ€™d like to state that Mr. Hovhannisyanâ€™s interview was published in all influential Azerbaijani newspapers and disseminated in â€œNewsâ€ programs of leading TV channels.

He abused the high level hospitality, the absence of hostility against and the loyal attitude towards the members of the Armenian Delegation by Azeri citizens and called Nagorno Karabakh as â€œtheir mountainsâ€ (i.e. Armenian mountains), and disseminated provocative information stating that Azeri citizens â€œdid not seem eager to die for these mountainsâ€.

The Chairman of the Armenian Delegation states that â€œAll state institutions and agencies had maps on the walls with Karabakh included. Thus, the authorities are trying to remind the people of the idea of â€œBig Azerbaijan,â€ about the things they want to forget aboutâ€. Regarding this, I have to stress that state independence of Azerbaijan has been recognized by international community within the frontiers included in the former USSR. Therefore, Nagorno Karabakh is an inseparable part of the territory of Azerbaijan from both historical and legal aspects, and our maps are completely the same with ones which can be found on the walls of all international organizations, including UN, OSCE, NATO, and PACE. It is preposterous to make such allegations in public and it only helps to prove the ongoing hostility and negative intentions of Armenian representatives towards our country while neglecting the opinion of all international organizations.

The chairman of the Armenian Delegation cast doubt on the opinions of Mr. Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, regarding the Armenian -Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict expressed in his speech during the plenary meeting. I would like to recall that in his speech, President Aliyev brought to the attention of the Assembly members the facts which were confirmed in the resolutions made by international organizations, including the UN Security Council and its General Assembly, the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, regarding this conflict, called criminal acts against civilians in Khojaly on 25-26th of February in 1992 as an act of genocide and the Khojaly genocide â€œas an act of barbarism and embodiment of fascismâ€.

Thus, it is absolutely unacceptable that our Armenian colleagues make groundless accusations against the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan saying that he â€œwins political dividends through warmongeringâ€. President Ilham Aliyev stated repeatedly from different tribunes that though the Republic of Azerbaijan has a right of self-defense, it is important to achieve peaceful solution of the conflict and therefore, to continue the process of negotiations.

During the meeting of Social Affairs Committee of the EURONEST PA in Armenia of this February, our hosts in Yerevan surrounded us with speakers, maps and images, which falsified historic facts, and were, in principle, completely against international law and several UN resolutions. Meetings were held in rooms with the map of the occupied Azeri territories being represented as part of Armenia. However, in order not to endanger activities of the EURONEST PA we preferred to cooperate, to achieve goals of this institution and to move forward. Therefore, we did not react to such provocative actions.

During the Baku session of the EURONEST PA, the members of the Armenian Delegation distributed three books to the Assembly members, which contain anti-Azerbaijan propaganda. The Azerbaijani side did not react to these provocations in order not to cast a shadow on the activities of the EURONEST PA and to achieve a successful ending of the second session and in order to reach the goals of the EURONEST PA.

We are therefore surprised and disappointed that our Armenian colleagues responded to our efforts through their point of order made on the 4th of April. They attempted to unfairly mar the Baku session of the EURONEST PA which was highly appreciated by Assembly members and Co-Presidents from both political and technical aspects.

The Baku Session of the EURONEST PA and its successful results showed once again that Azerbaijan is a peaceful country, open to cooperation with all. Itâ€™s among the top priorities of our country to achieve the goals of the EURONEST PA. Moreover, we believe that our right to abide by international law and European values should be safeguarded and respected, as should it be for all our partners and friends in EURONEST. We urge, therefore, our colleagues not allow this sad episode to endanger all our work so far in the framework of the EURONEST PA.

The Azerbaijani Delegation to the EURONEST PA calls on the Armenian Delegation which presumably regrets at not having been able to hinder the Baku session of this institution, to put an end to any kind of biased, partial and provocative statements as well as anti-Azerbaijan propaganda and invites them to respect the resolutions of all international organizations which reflect the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. We furthermore urge them to continue cooperation towards reaching even more of the results of the EURONEST PAâ€, the letter reads.