A press conference summarizing Armenia’s diplomatic developments of 2015 took place on February 2, at the Armenian Foreign Ministry.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan said that too much importance is being attached to the resolutions discussed at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), earlier last month. Nalbandyan noted that contrary to the Armenian stance, the Azerbaijani leadership has labeled documents, resolutions and statements adopted by PACE, “a piece of paper”.
Edward Nalbandyan also mentioned that by voting against Robert Walter’s resolution, “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan”, the deputies voted in favor of the peace process.
As for the resolution that passed, “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water”, proposed by Bosnian MP Milica Markovic and concerning the Sarsang water reservoir, Nalbandyan said the resolution was of a technical nature and therefore, “it was initially discussed at the Committee of Social Affairs and not at the Political Committee, despite the fact that the author attempted to introduce political statements to this resolution.”
The Foreign Minister reminded of the position of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs regarding the anti-Armenian resolutions at PACE, “OSCE has repeatedly stated that attempts to shift discussions to other formats will harm the peace process”, said Nalbandyan.
In response to the question if it was a shortcoming of Armenian diplomacy that such reports reached PACE, the Armenian Foreign Minister replied saying, “throwing stones at the diplomats is equally immoral as throwing stones at the soldiers.”
Asked whether the position of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states on the Karabakh conflict has changed since President Serzh Sargsyan’s December criticism of the heads of the organization, and if CSTO will continue to stay neutral or refrain from the Karabagh issue all together, Nalbandyan mentioned that four documents adopted at the CSTO Summit and during the meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Member States, ascertain the position of CSTO member states is in line with Armenia’s approach to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
During its January 26 Winter Session, PACE adopted the draft resolution “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water” by 98 in favor, 71 against and 40 abstentions.
Earlier in the session, PACE rejected the controversial draft resolution by British MP Robert Walter on “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan.”
On January 22nd, the OSCE Minsk Group issued a press release calling on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to refrain from moving forward with its two draft resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh, In their press release, MG Co-Chairs Igor Popov of Russia, James Warlick of the US, and Pierre Andrieu of France reiterate that their group “remains the only accepted format for negotiations” on the conflict and urged that “steps not be taken which could undermine [their] mandate” or “complicate ongoing negotiations.”
