Answer of Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan on the report on Sarsang Reservoir

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The answer of Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan to the question of News.am 2015-11-24 Question: Mister Kocharyan, how would you comment on the approval of the report on Sarsang Reservoir by the Social Affairs Committee of the PACE? Shavarsh Kocharyan: Quite recently we witnessed the response of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on the report of the British parliamentarian R. Walter presented to the PACE Committee on Political Affairs. The statement of the Co-Chairs, in particular, outlined that considering the sensitivity of the negotiations, attempts to create parallel mechanisms can disrupt the negotiation process and impede progress towards a settlement. Indeed, after this clear warning, presenting a draft of another report, which distorts the issues related to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, this time, at the PACE Committee for Social Affairs is openly aimed at failing the efforts undertaken by the Co-Chairs in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. The draft of the report is only a grist for the mill of Azerbaijan’s propaganda machine and is in line with the logistics of Baku’s policy of undermining the negotiation process, unceasing efforts aimed at escalating the situation along the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan and on the Line of Contact with Nagorno-Karabakh, shifting the discussions on the issue into other formats and constantly voicing criticism addressed at the Co-Chairs. Worrisome is the fact that some PACE parliamentarians intentionally or unintentionally are becoming tools of the Azerbaijani propaganda, and, by their vote distorting the reality, they first of all are discrediting themselves and trying to shadow the PACE authority. It is noteworthy that the rapporteur, who has already visited Azerbaijan twice, even did not consider to visit Nagorno-Karabakh, where she would have an opportunity to get acquainted with the situation of the main subject of her report - the Sarsang Reservoir. It is obvious, that the rapporteur pursued other goals. Otherwise, she would not ignore the fact, that on November 18, the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities answered positively to the written suggestion to arrange her visit, received two days before. Otherwise, the letters of the Head of the Armenian delegation to PACE on the readiness to receive the rapporteur in Armenia will not be left without notice. As a result, the rapporteur presented a report on the reservoir that she has not even seen; instead, she filled the report with falsified arguments. Moreover, the hustle that accompanies the presentation of the report a few days before the completion of her mandate reveals the fact that the envy for “glory and honor” that Walter received in Baku has been haunting her.