KAREN NAZARYAN: AZERBAIJAN USES THE MEMBERSHIP IN THE UN SC TO SPREAD ONE-SIDED INFORMATION
armradio.am
11.02.2012 12:27
Armenia’s Permanent Representative at the UN Karen Nazaryan circulated
a letter at the UN Security Council, in which he expressed regret
that Azerbaijan – a newly elected non-permanent member of the
Security Council, uses this opportunity to disseminate one-sided
information about the Karabakh conflict, which contradicts the core
of the conflict and the spirit of negotiations within the framework
of the OSCE Minsk Group.
He called on Azerbaijan to respect the activity of the
Security Council and refrain from making provocative steps and
statements. The letter was circulated in response to the statement
of the Azerbaijani representative following the briefing of the OSCE
Chairperson-in-Office, Foreign Minister of Ireland Eamon Gilmore,
who welcomed the OSCE Minsk Group efforts towards settlement of the
Karabakh conflict.
“The statement of Azerbaijan is in stark contrast with the spirit
of the Joint Declaration of the Presidents of Armenia, Russia and
Azerbaijan made just last month in Sochi, underlining the readiness
of the parties to speed up agreement on the Basic Principles offered
by the mediators.
What is the sense of the Azerbaijani attempt to open discussions on
the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in the Security Council or to change the
terminology accepted by OSCE and used for a long time in the documents
and statements of the OSCE? Using correct terminology to address the
root causes of the conflict is one thing, but using terminology to
change facts and distort the reality is a completely different matter,”
Karen Nazaryan wrote in the letter.
“Unfortunately, such behavior of Azerbaijan confirms that the
only guiding line of this country was and remains the use of this
distinguished tribune to distribute false facts, to misinform and
misrepresent the process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.
Despite its pledge before the UN Security Council “to the maintenance
of international peace”, Azerbaijan is continuously threatening to
use force against Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia along with unprovoked
daily war-mongering by its leadership and is dramatically increasing
its military budget, is continuing ceasefire violations on the line
of contact between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, systematically
is employing acts of vandalism towards the Armenian historical and
cultural heritage and this list goes on.
In response to the calls of the last two years by the UN
Secretary-General, the OSCE and the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh responded positively to the proposals of withdrawing
the snipers from the line of contact, to the consolidation of the
ceasefire, to the creation of a mechanism for investigating incidents
along the line of contact. However, Azerbaijan continues to reject
the proposals of withdrawal of snipers and consolidation of ceasefire
and continues to hinder the creation of investigation mechanism.
After the Joint Statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict by the
Presidents of Russia, the USA and France at the G8 Summits in L’Aquila
(2009), Muskoka (2010) and Deauville (2011) Armenia welcomed them
and stated that we are ready to move forward on the basis of the
principles and elements made in those statements. This proves that
the approaches of the international community are in line with the
approaches of Armenia.
Why does not the Permanent Representative of Azerbaijan recall those
statements in his presentation? Simply because Azerbaijan refuses to
accept them.
Perhaps it behooves Azerbaijan, in its newly elected role in the
Security Council, to respect the work of that body and its members by
refraining from provocative actions and statement,” the letter reads.
From: A. Papazian