Babayan: Walter's Report Smells Like Caviar

• 09.15.2015, 19:40
•  Europe,  Region,  World,  NKR

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has today received the Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for politics and democracy Robert Walter, who is preparing a report entitled "The escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan". According to the report posted on the website of the PACE, Walter will visit Azerbaijan-Artsakh border on the side controlled by Azerbaijan, on September 15-16 in order to clarify some facts. The report notes that the visit to the opposite side of the border is planned in the near future.

However, in an interview with "Armedia" IAA, the Press Secretary of the NKR President David Babayan, did not confirm this information. "We have repeatedly stated that they are ready to cooperate with all who want to understand the essence of the Karabakh conflict and be helpful for resolving it. But if someone, especially a politician who is preparing a report for such important organizations as the PACE is clearly biased, one-sided, anti-Armenian, having pro-Azerbaijani approaches, he may visit Karabakh only as a tourist, lighting a candle in Gandzasar and repenting for what he does," Babayan said.

Note that the presentation of the report of the PACE session was scheduled for the first of September, however, as Walter said in his speech, the Armenian side "prevented the report" and for this reason, the presentation of the report on September 1^st became impossible.

Let’s recall that the official Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic refuse to cooperate with Walter, as they consider the name alone of the report to be absolutely unacceptable. In Yerevan and Stepanakert they have repeatedly stated that they are ready to cooperate with the rapporteur, if he changes the name and the style of the report, since it is impossible to write about the "The escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan", previously never having visited Artsakh.

"We are confident that this report smells like caviar, moreover, caviar of a very bad quality," Babayan said, adding that the Armenian and Artsakh sides requested the rapporteur to change such a biased headline several times.