"ANY STEP TOWARDS PEACE IS VERY IMPORTANT"

Despite the fierce opposition of the Armenian delegation and its supporters, the PACE Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy adopted, in Paris on 4 November, a report entitled "Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan", prepared by British rapporteur Robert Walter. R+ presents an interview with Arcadio Diaz Tejera, a member of the Parliamentary Assembly from Spain, which is one of the PACE members who supported the report as well as major amendments to it proposed by the Azerbaijani side.

- Mr Tejera, let us begin our conversation with the question: how do you view the problem of the occupation of a fifth of Azerbaijan's territory?

- I hope that the new PACE report will be adopted at the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and will complement the previous decisions of international organizations related to the problem of Nagornyy Karabakh. First of all, I mean the four UN Security Council resolutions demanding an unconditional withdrawal of Arme-nian forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

As for the attitude to the Karabakh problem, I would like to emphasize the obvious and unacceptable fact that one State, a member of the Council of Europe, continues to hold under occupation 20 per cent of the territory of another member of the organization. These territories were seized by Armenia's armed forces with the support of its powerful ally more than 20 years ago. The new document - and I am referring to Mr Walter's report - openly states just that. I think other members of the Parliamentary Assembly have no doubts on this score, either. It is important that Member States of the Council of Europe respect the issues of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders of all internationally recognized states.

- What is the essence of the amendments that you supported?

- These are the three amendments included at the initiative of Azerbai-jani MP Elxan Suleymanov, which made the draft report more specific; therefore I and my colleague, Polish MP Tadeusz Iwinski, could not but support them.

After amendment, the draft report confirms that a number of Azerbaijani territories are still under Armenia's occupation, and in this regard, Armenia is called upon to end the occupation and to immediately release Azerbaijani citizens Dilqam Asgarov and Sahbaz Quliyev who are illegally held hostage.

Along with this, the report strongly condemns the lack of cooperation by the Armenian side in the preparation of the report, which is regarded as a violation by Armenia of its commitments to the Council of Europe. The draft report suggests the adoption of measures which will ensure that rapporteurs are not hindered in the future in the pursuit of their mandates.

In addition, the document calls on the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to draw up an action plan, in conformity with the principles of the Minsk Group, for the process of reconciliation of Azerbaijan and Armenia and to take into account the document approved by the Committee in follow-up activities related to Azerbaijan and Armenia.

- In explaining its refusal to cooperate in the preparation of the report within the framework of the PACE, the Armenian side argues that the OSCE Minsk Group alone has the prerogative to promote the peaceful resolution of the Karabakh problem, and any efforts in this direction made by other organizations only interfere with and even hinder its activities. It is obvious, however, that this is nothing more than an attempt to preserve the status quo and continue the occupation of Azerbaijani lands. Can the Armenian side achieve its goals at a later stage of the discussion of the report by launching a broad campaign of slander against the author of the document?

- The Armenian side did put a lot of pressure on Mr Walter, trying to damage his prestige, challenge his impartiality and background. But all this could not prevent him from attaining the objectives of his work. After all, PACE members are independent people. Independence in activities, freedom from any outside influence is our overriding principle. I hope the report will be approved at a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in January.

- It is noteworthy that the PACE report was met with criticism not only in Armenia. For example, US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick said that "The PACE and other international organizations should consult with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs prior to publishing reports and resolutions on Nagornyy Karabakh". What do you think about this?

- In the course of more than 20 years of their activity, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have failed to change the situation and bring the parties to peace. For this reason, any new step towards settling the conflict is very important. All parties must respect the document which is expected to be approved by the Parliamen-tary Assembly of the Council of Europe, especially when it comes to such a document. After all, we are exerting ourselves for the sake of peace.

- Yerevan is inspired by certain countries' populations attempting to exercise self-determination by gaining independence and tries to justify its own desire to legalize the recognition of the separatist regime of Nagornyy Karabakh. One such example for Armenians is what is happening in one of the regions of your country, namely, Catalonia. How appropriate are the parallels?

- The situations in Catalonia and Nagornyy Karabakh have nothing in common. They differ radically. We fully ensure the rule of law; all actions are carried out strictly within the framework of the constitution. This is nothing like what was taking place and is taking place in Nagornyy Karabakh, which is the homeland for Azerbaijanis who were expelled from that territory by armed Armenians. I would like to reiterate therefore that any attempts to find similarity between these cases are baseless.