Euronest PA Co-Chairs

Euronest PA Bureau members

Euronest PA members

 

 Dear Co-Chairs,

Dear colleagues,

 The 4^th Euronest PA plenary session in Yerevan was marked with shamfeul developments. The session, to which Azerbaijani Delegation rightfully rejected to attend, started and ended with planned and deliberate diversions by Armenia.

 The Azerbaijani Delegation insistently stated for recent years during Bureau meetings that it was inadmissible to hold the Euronest PA session in Armenia. Those statements stressed that the occupation by Armenia of the territories of Azerbaijan, the other EaP country, contradicted the objectives and spirit of EaP program and Euronest PA, and drew the attention to the fact that official Yerevan’s political decision to join the Customs Union and the Eurasian Economic Union  was fully opposite to and didn’t comply with EaP platforms. The statements of Azerbaijani Delegation also forecasted that Armenia would certainly take opportunity to use holding the 4^th plenary session in Yerevan on the eve of centennial of so-called Armenian genocide for its propagation campaign and make the Euronest PA session an instrument of this campaign.

Indeed, the Armenian side resorted to diversions from the first day of session with the pretext that Azerbaijani Delegation rejected to go to Yerevan. As one of these diversions, the Armenian Delegation tabled a motion for resolution on recognition of so-called Armenian genocide.

 One of the points of attention is that tabling of this motion for resolution strictly violated the Rules of Procedure of the Euronest PA, as it was prepared during secret negotiations of Armenian Delegation with Greens and EPP groups two weeks prior to the session, it was kept secret from the Assembly members, it had not been sent in advance, it had not been discussed in any debate in Euronest, and it had not been open  to  amendments  by  the  delegations.

 On the other hand, the call on Turkey “to actively dialogue and open the archives for researches” is simply ridiculous. Thus, Turkey constantly underlined during negotiations on all levels that historical events should be investigated by historians, that all archives should be opened for objective and unbiased research of events in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, that it was necessary to set up an international group of researchers, and that it was ready to all these. However, the Armenian side always rejected this proposal.

Furthermore, the call on Turkey “to come to term with its past” in the adopted document is the product of ill imagination of Armenian side and Armenian lobby. Thus, Turkey is a state with ancient and rich heritage of statehood, culture, and traditions. Many peoples historically lived in he territory of this state and preserved their languages, religions, and cultures. Yes, every state faced tragic events in its history. In this context, Turkey is not an exception, and nobody denies bloody developments here during the World War I. Therefore, Turkey repeatedly stated that it is the master of its history and that it was necessary to objectively investigate dark pages without any political speculations. Thus, Turkey has no any problem with its past. These allegations are the product of ill imagination of Armenia, Armenian lobbyst organizations, and their supporters in international organizations, and finally, the means of political pressure of leading countries, which intend to realize their geopolitical plans on the region.

 One of disgusting moments is that the Armenian side blackmailed everybody to get adopted its motion for resolution, which was accompanied with serious procedural violations and faced strong protests of Assembly members. The Armenian Delegation threatened to vote against anti-Russian resolution on the Ukrainian developments if they didn’t support their motion, thus, achieved its aim.

In the context of the above-mention, the Azerbaijani Delegation rejects the resolution on so-called Armenian genocide adopted during Euronest PA Yerevan session and stresses that this document disgraces the Euronest PA. At the same time, this document confirmed that the Euronest PA is an instrument on the hands of Armenia and pro-Armenian forces to realize their political diversions.

 Although we repeatedly witnessed the statements that the Euronest PA is not the institution resolving the conflicts, this disgraceful event in Yerevan session once again proved that the Euronest PA is a meaningless organization controlled with double standards and supporting groundless claims on the fact that Armenians, which committed genocide crimes against Azerbaijani nation 110 years ago, was subject to so-called genocide 100 years ago.

 Could the Euronest PA, which proved to be an institution “controlled” by the Armenian side during Yerevan session, be an institution serving to its declared objectives and interests of all parties and thus, function effectively?

 There is the single answer: No! The effective functioning of such an institution to achieve its goals and its future is dubious.

 Sincerely,

Elkhan Suleymanov

Chairman of Azerbaijani Delegation