Armenia nationalists oppose PACE subcommittee on Garabagh
Armenia’s ultra-nationalist Dashnaktsutyun party has opposed
establishment of a subcommittee under the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe (PACE) to deal with the Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh.
Dashnaktsutyun chairman, Vaan Ovannisian, while addressing
parliament Tuesday, called upon the Armenian PACE delegation to
oppose the measure, Armenian media reported.
The proposal to re-establish the subcommittee on Garabagh
settlement was made by Turkish lawmaker Movlud Chavushoglu after
his recent election as PACE president.
Ovannisian claimed that by restoring the work of the subcommittee,
Turkey is trying to significantly interfere with the Minsk process,
referring to the peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group,
saying the Armenian delegation should therefore oppose this
initiative.
"I understand that our delegation’s declaring an impeachment for
PACE President Movlud Chavushoglu is difficult, but we have to
prevent the establishment of a subcommittee on Upper Garabagh in
PACE," Ovannisian alleged.
Chavushoglu was elected PACE president in January, becoming the
first Turk to head the organization. During his recent visit to
Armenia, Dashnaktsutyun representatives refused to meet with him
due to Chavushoglu’s not having paid tribute to the monument to the
alleged genocide of Armenians, a claim on the World War I-era mass
killings in the Ottoman Empire.
The Armenian nationalists have also opposed the initiative of
Turkey and Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic to build a
railway and create an air link. Dashnaktsutyun MP Ara Nranyan
claims that these projects pose a threat to Armenia’s national
security.
"Turkey is taking strides toward stationing its military bases in
Nakhchivan," the lawmaker maintained. "But Armenia’s failing to
react to this is unacceptable. Turkish military presence in this
territory defies our country’s national security from the
geo-political viewpoint."
Nakhchivan has been under Armenian economic blockade since the
USSR’s collapse. Also, 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory,
including Upper Garabagh and seven adjacent districts, has been
under Armenian occupation since the two South Caucasus republics
signed a precarious cease-fire in 1994 following a lengthy
war.*