Double standards in return for Armenian sweeteners
CoE Commissioner Mijatović bought into false propaganda

ANALYTICS  26 December 2022 - 10:07

The statement on the issue of "unblocking" the Lachin road, voiced by the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Dunja Mijatović, looks hugely biased and prejudiced. It does not say anything about the rights of a million Azerbaijanis expelled from their homes by Armenians, but it does sound a great deal about Armenian rights. So why is the Council of Europe's commissioner so ardent to serve Armenian interests, and does she even read the news feed before she makes any statement on the situation in the region at all?

There is a sense that Mijatović does not read the news. But even if she does, she should at least familiarise herself with what officials of the country she wants to highlight in her statement have already told the world before she speaks and makes a statement. And probably the Commissioner of the Council of Europe even has her own secretariat for this purpose.

If Mijatović had read she would know that not only Baku, but its representative in the UN, and even some Armenian politicians noted over the past few days that Azerbaijan was not blocking the Lachin road, it was just hosting a rally of Azerbaijani eco-activists. And it is actually Russian peacekeepers who are blocking it. The Commissioner for Human Rights states that "some people cannot reach their homes, and access to basic goods and services, including food supplies and emergency medical care, is disrupted" and that all this threatens "the exercise of the rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh". In fact, this is far from the truth.

When a European official of this rank insists on the importance of "ensuring free and unhindered access for humanitarian aid and international human rights missions to all territories and all peoples" - it is even more surprising. The question of the European official's competence comes to a head here, as the politician clearly missed a speech by Azerbaijan's permanent representative to the UN, Yashar Aliyev, at the UN Security Council meeting in New York where the Armenian side's false narratives were blown to smithereens.

"There is no obstacle to the supply of goods or basic health services to the local population in the region. This is nothing but another manifestation of Armenia's manipulation for clearly malicious political purposes," the Azerbaijani diplomat stressed.

In addition, if Mijatović is in disbelief of the above, there are numerous videos showing the movement of humanitarian goods along the Lachin road. It is also worthwhile for the Commissioner to study Armenian media reports, where on the one hand they state the needs of "Artsakh people", and on the other hand, the shop shelves are full of goods. No one dies of hunger or lack of medical care in Khankendi.

Why is Mijatović making statements without the relevant background to the issue? Mijatović's incompetence and partiality were highlighted by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry in its statement, mentioning that "the commissioner seems to have once again applied double standards and a selective approach to the issue. Also, as our Foreign Ministry notes, Mijatović ignores Armenia's war crimes, the clear violation of international humanitarian law during the 44-day war, the facts of attacks on civilians in towns far outside the conflict zone, the mine threats that left 276 Azerbaijanis as victims of mine explosions after the war, the existence of obstacles to the return of IDPs to their homes.

"Therefore, the statement by the European Commissioner is, to put it mildly, far from sincere," our country's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Innocent till proven guilty, but we can safely assume that the European Commissioner is clearly working for more than just Armenian "thank you" to earn some bonuses. This is demonstrated by Mijatović blatantly ignoring Azerbaijani toponyms, persistently using the phrase "Nagorno-Karabakh". In other words, the European official is questioning the territorial integrity of our country. For those like Mijatović and others like them, Azerbaijan's permanent representative to the UN, Yashar Aliyev, made it crystal clear that Karabakh, which Armenia and some UN Security Council members falsely call "Nagorno-Karabakh", is an internationally recognized sovereign region of Azerbaijan.

"The legal name of this territory of Azerbaijan is now 'Karabakh Economic Region' or 'Karabakh Region' for short," Aliyev stressed.

And most importantly, if Mijatović really cares about the rule of international law, then why in this case, does not she demand to stop the illegal exploitation of natural resources of Azerbaijan by Vardanyan's team in Karabakh? Or, for example, for the immediate withdrawal of Armenian armed formations from Azerbaijani territory?

Caliber.Az