PACE's LAHRC declines Armenia's proposal against Azerbaijan

Armenian MP Vladimir Vardanyan made groundless accusations against Azerbaijan at today's meeting of the PACE Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee. Vardanyan stated that the protest action of Azerbaijani NGOs, specializing in the environmental sphere, on the Shusha-Khankendi road against the illegal exploitation of mineral deposits on the territories temporarily controlled by Russian peacekeepers, is allegedly aimed to close the Lachin corridor, cut off communication of Armenians in Khankendi with Armenia and oust Armenians from these territories. He went further and, without giving any arguments, tried to accuse Azerbaijan of creating a "genocide" threat, drawing parallels with the processes in Ukraine.

APA reports that Kamal Jafarov, a member of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, who was present at the session, called the attempt of the representative of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Eurasian Union, and Customs Union - Armenia to draw parallels with Ukraine hypocritical.

Kamal Jafarov noted that relevant structures of Azerbaijan notified Russian peacekeepers temporarily operating in this territory about the monitoring of gold deposits "Gyzylbulag" and copper-molybdenum deposits "Demirli", cessation of illegal exploitation, monitoring of environmental damage in different directions. Later on the day of monitoring in this territory, the Russian criminal oligarch Ruben Vardanyan arranged a provocation with a group of Armenians and interfered with the monitoring. However, the Russian peacekeepers were unable or unwilling to prevent this provocation. Now Azerbaijani citizens, and NGO representatives, taking advantage of the freedom of assembly, summon the commander of Russian peacekeepers, Andrei Volkov, for a meeting. Kamal Jafarov said that until Volkov appears at the meeting, the corridor will remain closed. Therefore, the reason why the corridor remains closed is Volkov himself.

Erkin Gadirli, a member of the Azerbaijani delegation to the PACE, noted in his speech that the Lachin corridor is not the only road, there is a broader new highway. Erkin Gadirli noted that the Azerbaijani side built this road, but the Armenians refuse to use it. It is noted that this territory is controlled by Russian peacekeepers, and whatever happens now is the responsibility of Russian peacekeepers. Erkin Gadirli added that Russian peacekeepers create conditions for the passage of any persons to these territories without the consent of Azerbaijan. As an example, he cited the fact that the mayor of Paris, who was a candidate in the presidential elections in France, was allowed to enter the territory of Azerbaijan without the permission of official Baku. Erkin Gadirli said that the Armenian strategy should be to reconcile with Azerbaijan and withdraw Russian troops from Armenian territory, and Russian peacekeepers from Karabakh since they do not create conditions for the return of Azerbaijanis displaced from Karabakh, to establish communication between the two communities. Taking all this into consideration, Erkin Gadirli stressed that the Armenian MP's recent claims to Azerbaijan are absolutely unfounded.

It should be noted that Vladimir Vardanyan asked the PACE Legal Committee to draft a resolution on the latest developments. However, this request was rejected due to procedural violations. Vardanyan's suggestion to have the chairman of the PACE Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee circulate a biased statement was also rejected.