CAROLINE COX UNMASKED AZERBAIJAN IN HER SPEECH
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. The member of the British House of
Lords, the Head of the Armenian-British parliamentarian group Baroness
Caroline Cox unmasked Azerbaijan in her speech at the discussion
dedicated to the relations of the United Kingdom and Azerbaijan. As
reports “Armenpress” citing Azbarez, Cox stated that her “contribution”
in that discussion will be negative in nature, as her speech is a
criticism against Azerbaijan. Cox stated: “I have visited the region
78 times, many during the war against Nagorno Karabakh. I regret
that my contribution to this debate will be unpopular, because it
is critical of Azerbaijan, but it is based on first-hand evidence,”
Baroness Cox said. “I begin with a brief reference to aspects of recent
history relevant to current issues. I visited Azerbaijan in 1991,
when I met the then president and political leaders. I was dismayed
by the explicit commitment to ethnic cleansing of the Armenians from
Nagorno Karabakh. I also visited Karabakh then and met Azeris living
in homes which had recently been owned by Armenians who had been
evicted by Azerbaijan’s well documented policy, Operation Ring, in
which Armenian villagers were surrounded by Azeri troops who killed,
tortured and drove villagers off their land.”
The Baroness also emphasized the following: “The Armenians were the
primary victims as they had already been victims in the massacres
in Baku and Sumgait. Then Azerbaijan unleashed full-scale war. I
witnessed 400 Grad missiles daily raining onto Karabakh’s capital city,
an aerial bombardment of civilian homes with 500 kilogram bombs.
I also witnessed war crimes perpetrated by Azerbaijan on Armenian
civilians at Karabakh, such as the cold-blooded massacre of villagers
in Maragha. I was there hours afterwards and saw corpses whose heads
had been sawn off and burnt, mutilated bodies. I visited Khojaly
and can testify that the tragic events were not as portrayed by
Azerbaijan-a massacre of Azeris by Armenians. Independent journalists
and Azerbaijan’s former President Mutalibov have publicly come to
the same conclusion.”
She also noted that the Armenian forces’ taking control over the
territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh was not aggressive land
grabbing, but essential for survival, as they were used as bases for
constant shelling of towns and villages inside Karabakh. “I was there
when one ceasefire was broken by Azerbaijan, with renewed bombing
from Azeri bases in these lands,” she said.
“This recent history is relevant to current concerns as the 1994
ceasefire is precarious. There is an urgent need for peace for the
peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia and because the peoples of the south
Caucasus do not want another destabilizing regional war. However,
Azerbaijan’s continuing hostile policies are detrimental to attempts
to reach a solution to this semi-frozen conflict. For example, the
noble Lord, Lord Laird, mentioned the case of Ramil Safarov, the Azeri
military officer who used an axe to murder an Armenian officer in his
sleep while both men were attending a NATO course in Budapest in 2004.
Safarov was arrested, convicted and sentenced to a lengthy term of
imprisonment. But, when Hungary repatriated Safarov to Azerbaijan, on
the understanding that he would continue to serve his prison sentence,
he was released from prison and welcomed as a hero. According to the
Economist in September 2012, this led to a new war of words in one
of the world’s most volatile regions,” she said.
“Patrick Ventrell, spokesman for the US State Department, said that
the United States was extremely troubled by the pardon of Safarov and
would be seeking an explanation from both Budapest and Baku. Russia,
involved in trying to ease relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan,
said that the actions of the Hungarian and Azeri Governments
contradicted internationally brokered efforts to bring peace to the
region. May I ask the Minister what representations have been made
by Her Majesty’s Government to Azerbaijan concerning the release and
the honouring of the convicted murderer Safarov?
The Economist also raised questions about the EU’s credibility when
it pledged [email protected] million to reform oil-rich Azerbaijan’s justice
and migration systems. Since 2006, Azerbaijan’s economy, with its
vast oil and gas reserves, has nearly tripled to $62 billion. May I
ask the Minister what the EU’s justification was in giving [email protected]
million to such a wealthy country? Moreover, there is widely-held
concern over Azerbaijan’s massive investment in its military arsenal-a
20-fold increase in seven years. Apart from expenditure on arms,
in a nation where many still live in poverty, there is deep anxiety
over the propensity to renew war with Nagorno-Karabakh. This danger
is exacerbated by Azerbaijan’s constant use of belligerent and hostile
propaganda, which is not conducive to confidence-building or effective
peace negotiations,” the Baroness noted.
Finally Baroness Caroline Cox referred to Azerbaijan’s disturbing
record on human rights, particularly on freedom of the press
and religious freedom. “No country has an interest in other
countries, only interests-and we have oil interests in Azerbaijan,”
she concluded. “Azerbaijan pours massive funds into propaganda,
disseminating positive images of its progress while trying to prevent
access to Karabakh by intimidating potential visitors who wish to
see the situation there for themselves. After one of my visits in
recent years, an article appeared in an Azeri newspaper, entitled
“Shoot the Cox!”. Parliamentarians visiting Armenia receive letters
from Azeri authorities threatening to place them on a blacklist if
they visit Karabakh. The British Ambassador is still not allowed to
visit Karabakh, although the political and diplomatic representatives
of other nations do so. Therefore, it is hard for the Armenians
of Karabakh to have their story of Azerbaijan’s policies told. I
deeply regret having had to make such a critical speech. Of course,
I can be accused of partiality, but if my contribution is partial,
it is accurate, based on first-hand evidence and corroborated by
many independent sources. I hope it is helpful to put on record some
often untold aspects of the situation, because the search for a just
and lasting peace can only be based on an understanding of historic
and contemporary reality in all its multi-faceted complexity,”
she stressed.