Kox to rescue Cognac diplomacy within PACE walls

As everyone knows, throughout the occupation of Azerbaijani territories, Yerevan did not miss the slightest opportunity to use the PACE platform to slander Azerbaijan. And in this regard, almost nothing has changed: despite the defeat in the war, the Armenian authorities still follow this policy.

This CoE advisory body often follows the lead of Armenian libelists. Thus, last month, PACE adopted another anti-Azerbaijani resolution, in which it called on Baku to "immediately implement" the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), dated December 22, 2022.

According to European parliamentarians, Azerbaijan should "invite a delegation of the Council of Europe with a familiarization mission to the Lachin corridor and Karabakh". Of course, the adoption of such an anti-Azerbaijani document was facilitated by the Armenian lobby. And this week, the Armenian media happily reported that PACE President Tiny Kox called for an urgent "fact-finding mission to Karabakh".

“Given the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, I recall the Assembly’s request of June 20 to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for the speedy organization and dispatch of a fact-finding mission to Azerbaijan in order to assess the situation of Armenians affected by the lack of free and safe access to the Lachin corridor from December 12, 2022,” the PACE said in a statement.

It also notes that Kox insists that Armenia and Azerbaijan honor their commitments made when they joined the Council of Europe in 2001 in order to reduce tensions and restore peace.

Well, first, let's make a reservation right away that Azerbaijan, unlike Armenia, adheres to all the obligations it has assumed in accordance with the Charter of the Council of Europe and is doing everything possible to reduce tension in the region. This is evidenced by the peace agenda of Baku, which it is promoting in the matter of normalizing relations with Yerevan. Therefore, Tiny Kox's statement is bias and should be addressed primarily to Yerevan.

Second, this is far from the first provocative statement of the PACE president in the relatively short period of his tenure (since January 2022). And before, this gentleman voiced contradictory statements about Azerbaijan - seemingly not disputing the belonging of Karabakh to Azerbaijan and at the same time accusing our country of "blockade of the Lachin road".

“Everyone admits that Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan, but this does not give the Azerbaijani government the right to do whatever it wants with these people. Blocking the Lachin corridor could cause a serious disaster for thousands of people living in Nagorno-Karabakh who depend on the corridor with Armenia,” the PACE president said.

By the way, the May meeting between Nikol Pashinyan and Tiny Kox on the sidelines of the 4th Council of Europe summit is by no means accidental, literally on the eve of another pro-Armenian PACE resolution. Judging by the information of the Armenian media, during this meeting, the Armenian prime minister complained to Kox about the "humanitarian crisis in Karabakh and the blockade of the Lachin corridor".

Later, this Armenian tale was submitted by the PACE president for discussion with Commissioner for Human Rights Dunya Mijatović at a meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

However, the fact that Mr. Kox spares no effort to look after the interests of Armenians is by no means insider news, because back in 2017, the Brussels-based ESISC (European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center) in its extensive report “The Armenian connection” called Tiny Kox one their key members of the PACE, protecting the interests of Armenia.

Moreover, according to ESISC, Kox and a number of other parliamentarians promoted in PACE the provocative plans of the George Soros network, directed primarily against Azerbaijan, Türkiye and Russia. The report, entitled "The Armenian connection as a secret meeting of deputies and NGOs", said that since 2012, a network has been created in PACE to cover up violations of international law, including to protect the illegal occupation of Karabakh and hide private interests in the field of protecting the rights person. That is, in fact, the ESISC report clearly confirmed the existence of political groups and individual politicians who are engaged in lobbying the interests of Armenia and anti-propaganda against Azerbaijan.

Of course, their sponsors have traditionally been influential Armenian diaspora organizations, thanks to whose efforts in most countries of the Western world, a wrong idea has developed about the essence of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. And in the post-conflict period, Armenia began to diligently impose on the attention of the international community a non-existent blockade on the Lachin road, because of which the rights of “120,000 Armenians of Karabakh,” who are facing a “humanitarian crisis due to the aggression of Azerbaijan,” are allegedly violated.

In this regard, it is appropriate to ask, where was PACE when the rights of over one million Azerbaijani refugees, expelled by Armenian vandals 30 years ago from their fatherland, were violated? Why were “democratic” and “enlightened” Europe not in a hurry to equate the tragic events in Khojaly and Karabakh with genocide, after all the rights of peaceful Azerbaijani citizens were violated then?

Although it is hardly worth waiting for an answer to these questions from both PACE and any other European structure, within the walls of which they shout the loudest of all about democracy, protection of rights and other values that are not even remembered when it comes to Azerbaijan.

And today, while Azerbaijan is closely engaged in solving its internal problems, reviving Karabakh from scratch, promoting a peaceful agenda in the region at negotiations in Moscow, Brussels and Washington, Armenia continues provocative activities on the conditional border with Azerbaijan. But in various international structures, it is Yerevan that invariably tries to present Azerbaijan as an aggressor.

By the way, Azerbaijan is not opposed to representatives of European structures visiting Lachin, but on the condition that official Baku gives its permission for this. Apply, get permission, come and see with your own eyes that there is no blockade. By the way, this fact has been recorded more than once by international experts and foreign journalists who visited the Lachin road.

After all, the Lachin BCP is designed to stop the illegal transfer of weapons and ammunition to Karabakh, and not at all, as Yerevan claims, to “starve” a handful (precisely a handful, and by no means tens of thousands) of ethnic Armenians. Finally, Azerbaijan proposes to use the Aghdam road for the movement of people and goods in parallel with the Lachin road. Baku's decision was supported by European Council, which caused great discontent in Armenia.

All these cases indicate that Armenia intends to prevent any constructive proposals from Baku that contribute to the achievement of peace in the region. And in this, rolling up his sleeves, PACE President Tiny Kox rushed to help Armenia.