Azerbaijani envoy deplores Hague’s unreadiness to objectively assess South Caucasus situation

Azerbaijani ambassador to Netherlands Rahman Mustafayev has said that the appeal for military support to Armenia adopted by the House of Representatives of the Netherlands on October 17 is a coordinated action of the government and parliament.

“While discussing the draft document during the parliamentary debates, the Dutch foreign minister actively supported it, saying that she would advocate for more support for Armenia within the EU and positively consider Armenia’s possible requests in the context of the European Peace Facility. Despite our numerous warnings during meetings at the Dutch Foreign Ministry that the practical implementation of this appeal could lead to bigger militarisation of the region and would negatively affect the negotiation process, as well as the position of Armenia itself, the Dutch Foreign Ministry and parliament ignored them,” the ambassador told Report.

“Unfortunately, The Hague, which claims to be the international capital of law and justice, is not yet ready to objectively, taking into account the positions of international law, assess the situation in our region,” Mustafayev emphasised, adding that along with a fundamentally negative assessment of this document from the Azerbaijani side, it is necessary to continue working with the Netherlands, conduct dialogue and convince.

“I think that the logic of the peace process and the work with leading European capitals, including The Hague, will help neutralising these dangerous initiatives of the Dutch parliament,” the ambassador added.

While commenting on the second appeal of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands on the so-called “ethnic cleansing”, Mustafayev said that at the parliamentary debate on October 12, the Dutch foreign minister unequivocally stated that when analysing the presence or absence of ethnic cleansing, it is important to take into account two factors - coercion and violence.

“According to the Dutch foreign minister’s statement, two UN missions in the Karabakh region did not confirm these factors, so there is no basis for allegations of “ethnic cleansing” in Karabakh. Whether the Dutch MPs like it or not, it is unlikely that this position of The official Hague will change. The fact that the entire faction of the ruling party - the biggest faction of the chamber, voted against the adoption of this document on October 17 testifies to this. Therefore, this appeal, which contains only an appeal, is nothing more than a useless, aimless action,” the diplomat noted.