Member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE Arusyak Julhakyan addressed the plenary sitting of the PACE spring session on April 26.
“Dear colleagues, Mr. Chairman, earlier today you said that you view this platform as an agora rather than an arena. And I share your approach. Unfortunately, sometimes we use this platform as a battlefield, forgetting the initial idea the Council of Europe is based on. The idea of bringing European nations together to find a solution to common problems, the idea of rebuilding and maintaining peace on a shattered continent, the idea of protecting human rights in Europe.
Yesterday and today, my Azerbaijani colleague stated that Azerbaijan is doing everything to achieve peace. And I realized that being in the same organization, we still have different perceptions of the core values that underpin this organization. We perceive peace differently, we perceive human rights differently.
When you bomb a maternity hospital, it does not lead to peace. When you behead an elderly citizen, it does not lead to peace.
When you build a ‘Trophy park’ in the heart of your capital, placing humiliating, dehumanizing mannequins of Armenian soldiers there, when you proudly take children to that park, show those mannequins and other so-called ‘trophies’, it does not lead to peace. This can lead to contempt, maybe hatred, but not peace.
When you refuse to release prisoners of war and other detainees, when you make them a subject of bargaining, constantly making new demands, it does not lead to peace. When you do not support the ECHR rulings on Armenian prisoners of war, the PACE-European Parliament resolutions, denying the international instruments for the protection of human rights, it does not lead to peace.
When even after the war you shoot at the villagers, the peaceful civilians in their Homeland, using small and large-caliber weapons, it does not lead to peace.
When you intentionally blow up the gas pipeline and deprive civilians, including children, of the opportunity to warm up in freezing weather, it is not about the peace.
When your armed forces continuously threaten civilians with loudspeakers, forcing them to flee their homes, their native villages, it is not peace.
When you destruct, annihilate Armenian churches, historical and cultural monuments, cemeteries, even after the ruling of the International Court of Justice, the adoption of the relevant resolutions of the PACE, the European Parliament, when your President publicly orders to erase the ancient Armenian manuscripts from Armenian churches in Nagorno-Karabakh, the erasing Armenian traces from those territories, it is not peace.
So, dear colleagues, speaking about peace, let us first make sure that here, in this agora, we understand the word in the same way. Maybe this will help us start the process of building trust, the process of building peace, and finally bring real peace to our region, thank you,” said Arusyak Julhakyan.
