YEREVAN, JUNE 22, ARMENPRESS. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted the resolution “Ensuring free and safe access through the Lachin Corridor” and the recommendations. ARMENPRESS reports, Ruben Rubinyan, the Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia, the special representative of Armenia in the process of the Armenia-Turkey dialogue, informed on his Facebook page.
“A little while ago, PACE adopted the resolution and recommendations on “Ensuring free and safe access through the Lachin Corridor” by voting.
The delegation of Azerbaijan did everything to change the resolution or to thwart its adoption, but nothing was achieved. About 60 changes proposed by them were rejected and the resolution was adopted.
Contrary to Azerbaijan’s claims, the PACE resolution clearly states that there is no free and safe movement through the Lachin Corridor.
The resolution mainly addresses the humanitarian and human rights consequences of Azerbaijan’s blockade of the Lachin Corridor, emphasizes the need for the urgent international fact-finding mission to the Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh, calls on Azerbaijan to immediately implement the decisions of the ECHR and the International Court of Justice, calls on Azerbaijan to restore electricity and gas supply to Nagorno Karabakh. Azerbaijan is also directly urged to abandon the hostile and threatening rhetoric used against Armenians.
The resolution, among other points, specifically states:
The Assembly is extremely concerned about the disruption of free and safe movement through the Lachin Corridor and the subsequent deliberate shutdown of electricity and gas supplies.
The Assembly is shocked by the fact that the leadership of Azerbaijan does not acknowledge the serious humanitarian and human rights implications of the current situation.
The Assembly deeply regrets that the PACE rapporteur was not invited to Azerbaijan during his fact-finding visit and was unable to go to the Lachin Corridor.
The Assembly emphasizes that the current situation is not stable and may lead to the Armenian population being forced to leave their homes and communities if the conflict is not resolved. In this context, the Assembly calls to urgently address the rights and security issues of the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh through dialogue between Baku and Stepanakert, as well as to ensure international neutral involvement for the use of any peace-oriented mechanism.
The Assembly calls on Azerbaijan to fulfill without delays the interim measures of the ECHR applied on December 21.
The Assembly calls on Azerbaijan to urgently implement the decision of the International Court of Justice.
The Assembly calls on Azerbaijan to invite the delegation of the Council of Europe on a fact-finding mission to Lachin Corridor and Nagorno-Karabakh to assess the situation on the ground. The Assembly also calls on Azerbaijan to allow other international organizations, including UN institutions, to enter the region.
The Assembly calls on Azerbaijan to show a truly constructive and peaceful approach towards neighboring Armenia and Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh.
PACE calls on Azerbaijan to make all efforts to ensure free and safe movement in both directions through the Lachin Corridor.
PACE calls on Azerbaijan to immediately restore the supply of electricity and gas and to agree with the Armenians on a new route for the supply of gas and electricity passing through Armenian, not Azerbaijani territory.
The Assembly is deeply concerned about the hostile and threatening rhetoric against Armenians at the highest levels of Azerbaijan’s leadership and urges Azerbaijan to refrain from such rhetoric and take steps to combat both hate speech, including by the public and high-ranking officials, and hate crimes.” Ruben Rubinyan noted.
