The deputies of the European Parliament, who arrived in Armenia on a fact-finding mission, visited the Syunik province and got acquainted with the consequences of the latest Azerbaijani aggression. According to Fabio Massimo Castaldo, member of the European Parliament, Azerbaijan committed aggression against the sovereign territory of Armenia and committed war crimes.
Fabio Massimo Castaldo (Member of the European Parliament) - We are deeply concerned and condemn Azerbaijan's aggression against Armenia's territorial integrity and the atrocities committed against Armenian prisoners of war - they are crimes against humanity, and we hope that the perpetrators will be held accountable.
Territorial problems should be solved through peaceful diplomacy, not through wars. According to the deputy, Armenia is the pillar of democracy in the region, and it is necessary to make additional efforts to maintain the ceasefire on the border, to achieve stable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Until this issue is resolved, Fabio Castaldo considers it necessary to deploy a long-term mission in Armenia.
Fabio Massimo Castaldo - We are committed to continue our efforts in this direction, and I call to increase the number of observers in Armenia. But at the same time, we must record that the actual mission is working at 50 percent, because Azerbaijan does not want the deployment of an observation mission on the territory of its country.
The member of the European Parliament also described as inadmissible Azerbaijan's obstruction of the removal of the dead bodies of Armenian servicemen, condemned the fact that Azerbaijan will not return prisoners of war after 2020, shelling of peaceful settlements.
Fabio Massimo Castaldo - The civilian population cannot live under such threats, but we saw people living there just a few hundred meters away.
Fabio Castaldo informed that a number of deputies of the European Parliament voted in favor of the resolution condemning the encroachments on the Armenian cultural heritage - churches, monasteries. The second group of the fact-finding mission of the European Parliament will arrive in Armenia in February 2023.
