Tatevik Hayrapetyan, member of ‘My Step’ parliamentary faction, stated on her Facebook that Paul Gavan (Ireland), the Rapporteur on ‘Humanitarian Consequences of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict,’ spoke at today’s Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) session about his visit to Armenia, the meetings and their effectiveness.
“The Rapporteur mentioned the meeting of the captives with the relatives of the hostages, as well as their contacts with the refugees. Mr. Gavan stressed that a visit to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) is very important, and that regardless of the policy, the visit to Artsakh should not be hindered in case of humanitarian issues.
In my speech, I thanked Mr. Gavan for his visit to Armenia and his meetings here. I stressed that the issue of Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) remains an urgent issue. I noted that the Speaker of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan called the recent resolution, calling for the immediate release of all Armenian POWs, adopted by the European Parliament, “a piece of paper”.
This shows the attitude of the official Baku to the calls of the international community, so this issue needs to be addressed urgently, especially given the dangers facing our compatriots in Baku.
I also spoke about the situation in Syunik, the provocations coming from Azerbaijan, our readiness to resolve the issue through diplomacy.
Armenia’s position is clear: Azerbaijani soldiers must leave the sovereign territory of Armenia.
In conclusion, I asked the following question to my European colleagues: “Peace is often talked about now, but ‘peace’ is not just a word, it implies actions, while Azerbaijan’s working style does not lead to peace at all. Ask yourself; was it possible to make peace with Hitler after the end of World War II? A similar situation has arisen today due to the policy pursued by the President of Azerbaijan in the South Caucasus,” the MP wrote.
