The summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has started in Strasbourg. At the beginning of the session, the Assembly discussed the proposal of the PACE Bureau on the issue of organizing a discussion on the issue of ‘Ensuring free and safe movement through the Lachin Corridor’ in an urgent procedure. The members of the Armenian delegation did not miss the opportunity to speak once again about the provocative actions of Baku from this European podium.
Hripsime Grigoryan, a member of the RA NA delegation to PACE, stated:
“Thank you President,
Later this week we will be debating very specific topics under urgent procedure, as just mentioned the horrendous war in Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis in the blocked Lachin corridor.
And while we are here to tackle the existing issues, Azerbaijan just several hours ago today, had again opened fire targeting a mettalurgical plant now being built in Armenia. Attention, please, not in Nagorno-Karabakh, in Armenia. This time it is the Western border of Armenia with the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhijevan. Just a week ago, on June 13 the Azerbaijani side had opened fire in the direction of the factory which is built in Armenia with the involvement of foreign investments. This were preceded by Azerbaijan's false accusations against the Armenian side regarding the construction of the factory. Armenia has previously stated that the construction of the plant fully complies with its international obligations, and that Azerbaijan's false concerns are simply aimed at hindering Armenia's economic development and foreign investments. As a result of shooting, two citizens of India working on the constuction were wounded and undergone surgeries.
Azerbaijan demonstrates overt disregard towards Armenia's internationally recognized borders, human rights and international law and this should come to the attention of the international community, to take actions to curb Azerbaijan's expansionist ambitions and its unacceptable policy of use of force to achieve its groundless, illogical and arbitrary demands.
Ironically, the Environmental protection has been used by Azerbaijan again, when for months the Lachin corridor was blocked by so-called “eco-activists”. And what happened to their environmental demands is that they stopped protesting right after a checkpoint was illegally established in the end of April by Azerbaijan on the Lachin corridor.
And now, on June 15, Azerbaijan has made another provocation. A group of Azerbaijani soldiers tried to establish a flag on the sovereign territory of Armenia. What we can see from the footage at the spot, the Russian peacekeeping forces were accompanying the Azerbaijani soldiers during this provocation. This is a very serious matter and Armenia has called for a need to investigate the circumstances of this provocation.
Using the provation as an excuse or alibi, Azerbaijan has blocked the traffic through the corridor completely since June 15. To clarify, this means, that if previously Red Cross has been able to transfer emergency patients, food and medicine, even that has been stopped now. So we are not talking about a possible humanitarian catastrophe/crisis, but a certain one very soon if we take no action.
Despite all our calls on Azerbaijan to finally implement the Court’s judgement, the situation has only grown worse. Now, against the backdrop of a real crisis, Azerbaijan has now allowed our colleague Paul Gavan, the Rappartour for “Addresing the humanitarian consequences of the blockade of the Lachin corridor”, the to visit and assess the situation on the group during his fact-finding mission.
A very simple question comes up – why does Baku reject access to the corridor if there is free and open traffic there. What is then to hide?
Dear Colleauges, I believe that now we are left in a situation to take a decisive action – a Presidential Committee visit to the Lachin corridor to have a chance to evaluate the situation on the ground. We need to send this signal, we need to take this step not for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, but to reinforce that against the backdrop of a war in Europe, in Ukraine, no coutry can take advantage and carry out ethnic cleansing, under the close or busy eye of all of us. The Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe should stand by its values to protect the Human Rights, to protect People when their lives and right to live securely in the homes is attacked.
Thank you.”
