12:34, 22 January 2016

Nagorno-Karabakh NGOs criticize PACE's draft resolutions

The reports prepared by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) concerning two resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh are of pro-Azerbaijani nature and are biased. This opinion has been expressed in the appeal of NGOs of Nagorno-Karabakh to the European MPs.

On January 25, the PACE is to hold the voting concerning the resolution on the reports "Increase of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan" and "Near-border residents of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water". The first report has been prepared by Robert Walter, an MP from the UK, and the second by Milica Markovic, an MP from Bosnia.

According to the Appeal of Nagorno-Karabakh NGOs to PACE MPs, "the very titles of the reports prepared by Milica Markovic and Robert Walter point to the biased and pro-Azerbaijani nature of both reports, and the draft resolutions prepared on the basis of these reports are not unbiased."

"Being advocates of peaceful dialogue and cooperation at various levels, we are expressing our regret that while preparing the texts of the reports, the rapporteurs of the PACE did not visit the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. They failed to communicate and interact with the authorities and civil society of the republic," note the authors of the appeal, a copy of which is available to the "Caucasian Knot".

The NGO activists are warning the MPs of the PACE that in case of the possible adoption of the draft resolutions, "they may have a very negative impact on the process of peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.

Author: Alvard Grigoryan

Source: CK correspondent