Foreign

Member of Azerbaijani Delegation to PACE

Baku – APA. Today PACE-Bureau decided by historical vote of 20 votes against 5 that motions for resolution, written and tabled by me, will be referred to the PACE Political Affairs Committee for report. The precise title of the report, which was subject to very tough discussions, was eventually adopted – beside three abstentions – with majority by unanimity: “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan”.

I would like to particularly stress that the result of the vote is indeed historical as this topic on occupied territories has not been discussed in the Council of Europe for 10 years, and it was impossible since to put the issue on the agenda, as all initiatives regarding the debates on the occupied territories were blocked by effective Armenian lobbying against Azerbaijan, even with support by Head of Secretariat. I would like also to note that the discussion about exact wording of the title of the upcoming report was very hard, as every word in this title has its importance, to stress rightful position of Azerbaijan in comprehensive way.

Already in April 2013 a first motion for resolution critical of the international community turning a blind eye to Armenia’s illegal occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and its 7 surrounding regions, signed and tabled by me and signed by 24 of his colleagues in PACE, was blocked by a veto by the President of the Assembly, during PACE 2013 spring session in Strasbourg. 

On May 9th 2013 a new motion for resolution was tabled by 31 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, from 8 different European Union countries, and it says:  “In several resolutions by international community, Armenia was clearly identified as an aggressor state which was repeatedly condemned for armed aggression, also by the Council of Europe, as Armenia’s attitude in this regard goes straight against PACE’s fundamental principles”. It’s clear that the 31 European MP’s through this motion for resolution wished to put emphasis on the fact that the Council of Europe does not fulfill its obligations in respect of Azerbaijan.

However, the Council of Europe is constantly putting pressure on Azerbaijan, and is not willing to give up double standards. This second motion, signed by the previously mentioned 31 MP’s, all originating from the European Union, was not subject to veto by the President of the Assembly, but was blocked this time by Presidential Committee. So both 2013 motions for resolution, even when being clearly in order, did not get the political response that fairly could be expected. Both were blocked before any debate. Why? Why does Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe blindly support Armenians and ignore the just right of Azerbaijan? What is the purpose of these repeated actions?

On June 26th 2013, a third motion for resolution was signed and tabled in Strasbourg on my initiative: “This motion was co-signed by 45 MP’s, members from PACE, originating from 18 different countries. This motion calls on some urgent and immediate political action from the PACE, stressing the high emergency of the very poor and dangerous condition of Sarsang reservoir, being of vital importance for 400.000 Azerbaijani inhabitants of frontier non-occupied provinces in Azerbaijan, due to lack of maintenance as a result of occupation, and its danger for the population of surrounding provinces. The motion is therefore calling the Assembly to strongly condemn the illegal blockade by Armenia of water supplies and irrigation systems in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, being in breach with fundamental principles of international law, and considers this abuse of power by Armenia as inhuman. I’d like to note that two motions on Sarsang prior to this motion were groundlessly vetoed.

Eventually this motion was adopted for report by Bureau, to be prepared and discussed in the Social Affairs Committee. Elkhan Suleymanov “It was a big step forward, as it was the first time since many years that the preparation of any report on such topic was agreed. We now hope that the outcome of this report on Sarsang reservoir by beginning of 2015 will be fair, neutral and comprehensive.”

In the meantime, a new motion for resolution on my initiative, demanding the application of sanctions against Armenian delegation for its continuous armed occupation of Azerbaijani territories, was tabled and published on PACE website on June 18th, 2014. This motion was co-signed by not less than 58 Members of Parliament representing 14 PACE member states. A letter was sent to all Bureau members expressing sincere hope that both PACE leadership and PACE Secretariat would this time – for the first time! - demonstrate objective position towards Azerbaijan in general, and towards the submitted motion for resolution in particular.

But on Sunday 22 June during Presidential Committee meeting, PACE Secretary-General Mr Sawicki raised a vague last minute procedural objection against the motion, as it could be expected. Indeed, when it comes to legitimate demands by Azerbaijan, again and again, very last minute vague administrative obstacles are fabricated by Armenian lobby and their supporters in the administration.

From the very start this motion was facing stubborn artificial administrative obstacles in the Presidential Committee and was eventually blocked for reasons, which could not be justified. No “Rule of Procedure” could be quoted. However, I absolutely wanted to use this political momentum to have the issue of occupied territories back on the PACE agenda, after 10 years.

So, he insisted again to have such open and transparent debate within PACE on the issue of the occupied Azerbaijani territories, to be developed in a report and a resolution on the substance, by submitting another new motion for resolution, on Tuesday 24 June in the morning. I collected 28 signatures from colleagues from 16 member states. Even Mr Sawicki, who was fighting against us since the beginning, was extremely surprised by this realization and had no other choice than to accept my new motion!

But the Secretary-General’s battle to block our motions didn’t stop. In full support of Armenians, Secretariat drafts another motion, with very short title “on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict”, clearly aiming to mislead the MP’s. I immediately perceived the low strategy by Secretariat. This motion aimed at preventing any discussions on the occupied territories, thus, most of the colleagues were confused. This motion looks probably acceptable at first sight for European MP’s, but is of course absolutely misleading, as it ignores the illegal military occupation of seven surrounding districts, besides Nagorno-Karabakh.

Finally, during Friday 27th June 2014, meeting of the Bureau, the matter on the tabled motions was included in the agenda again. Some progress is made for achieving our goals: on the substance there was general consensus growing that eventually and maybe “some kind of” report could be drafted on this issue. Main concern remained the title of this report. Mr Sawicki openly insisted to have only “Nagorno-Karabakh conflict” in the title, while I absolutely wanted to include “all other occupied territories”, in which obviously every word has its importance.

By the way, I’d like to reiterate that this is not a conflict, but the occupation of Azerbaijani territories through armed aggression. After some controversial interventions by Secretariat the meeting of Bureau on 27th June ended in total confusion, and the decision was eventually postponed till September 2014 meeting of Bureau in Paris.

I believed that after so many deceptions, so many blockades and postponements, the September 2nd 2014 meeting in Paris has to be decisive. Moreover, during that today’s Bureau meeting in Paris, masks are finally falling down. As he ran out of artificial procedural obstacles, Mr Sawicki today openly advocated the interests of Armenia before the Bureau, strongly arguing against the motions being referred for report, and strongly acting against the proposed title of the motion. He said that the adopted title is “provocative towards Armenia”, thus as a civil servant directly interfering in the political debate, while all international organizations, including PACE, always confirmed that occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories by Armenia is illegal. So, Mr Sawicki as civil servant is openly, before Bureau in session, denying the authority of resolutions of his own organization. 

I had a very clear position towards such unacceptable behavior by a civil servant. I think that such person can no longer hold his position as Secretary-General of the Assembly, as he is not acting as a neutral civil servant, but he is getting deeply committed in very sensitive political questions, as he is - without any refrain - openly advocating illegal standpoint of one member-state against my country. The position of Mr Sawicki is obviously so hostile against Azerbaijan, that I also urge Azerbaijani authorities to raise this matter without delay before the Council of Europe’s Council of Ministers.”

But fortunately today in Paris the common sense prevailed over the ongoing maneuvers by the Head of Secretariat. By 20 votes against 5, motions were referred for report to the Political Affairs Committee.

Analyzing this decision, I consider four important elements. First, we notice that international organizations still remain very reluctant to solve the problem of the illegal occupation of Azerbaijani territories. Secondly, more than ever it’s clear that Azerbaijan should look for its own way to solve its problems. Thirdly, if ever this report on occupied territories will be written in a neutral and correct way, it will show the real situation on the field, so let’s hope that will be the case. Fourthly, I repeat that a country being under occupation should not be attacked as we are for other mostly fabricated reasons.

However, with regard to the adopted decisions, the fight is not over yet. The positive decision by Bureau needs to be endorsed - once more! - at the first meeting of Plenary Assembly at the end of the month, in Strasbourg. Mr Sawicki openly warned the Bureau that he expects that Bureau’s decision will be challenged by plenary session. And indeed, it can be expected that Mr Sawicki himself will coordinate such action behind the screens, as he was so strongly and openly disappointed by the Bureau’s decision, going against the interests of Armenia, the country of which he was the most secure firewall, until today.

For me, the analysis of all the problems Azerbaijan has been facing is very clear. Until today, Azerbaijan only experienced repeated vetoes on previous motions and very unfortunately we witness the same approach in other international organizations, such as the European Parliament, the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly or the OSCE- Parliamentary Assembly. It is clear to all that there is only one reason for the pressures put by international organizations, as well as Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, against Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan should never demand the just and right return of its occupied territories. But international organizations should understand that Azerbaijani people would never give up its legitimate demands, which are explicitly confirmed in several international resolutions.

It is crystal clear that in order to divert the international public opinion from this ongoing injustice, international organizations, including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, continuously, deliberately and biasedly try to establish the image of Azerbaijan as an anti-democratic country, which grossly violates human rights and freedoms. The Azeri public opinion believes that such continuous campaign against Azerbaijan in the Council of Europe and international institutions has one major purpose: to achieve that the international community forgets about massive and gross violation of rights of over 1 million Azerbaijani citizens by Armenia, presence of refugees and internally displaced people for almost 20 years, and the failure to ensure their rights to return their homelands and live safely and that all these remain beyond the attention of international community.

However, I want to end with a positive expectation. In a few months the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, by seriously considering the motion on the Sarsang water reservoir, can prove that they really care about honest cooperation and good political practice. Later on, in the upcoming report in the Political Affairs Committee, the Assembly can prove that the matter of the illegal occupation of Azerbaijani territories is a real and sincere concern to the Council of Europe. But for sure, it has to be clear for the international community that Azerbaijan will never give up on this just and right cause.

And about today’s result in PACE’s Bureau I have one last comment that finally, in all modesty, I wish to express that today I am very proud, after all those years, to have achieved the start of reports on both issues, Sarsang reservoir and occupied territories, and I very warmly thank all colleagues from PACE Bureau who showed their support to these fair and just causes.

But the work has only begun. Political struggle against international organizations, who have unjust position against the injustice regarding the fact of occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia will continue.

Paris, September 2, 2014.

• Foreign Ministry leadership visits Alley of Honor - PHOTO
• Sahiba Gafarova speaks at IPU high-level dialogue on digital governance
• Presidential aide: Azerbaijan frequently becomes the target of international disinformation campaigns