It is Simply Shameful: Tatevik Hayrapetyan on Charles Michel's Statement

After the trilateral meeting between Pashinyan, Charles Michel, and Aliyev, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, made a statement. The particularly concerning part of the statement is the fourth point, where the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh is described solely as a humanitarian issue.

Tatevik Hayrapetyan, a former MP of the ruling Civil Contract party and a former member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), expressed her views on Facebook:

“In this section of the statement, it is mentioned: ‘We discussed the situation of the Armenian population in Karabakh and the situation around the Lachin corridor. The current situation is obviously unstable and does not serve anyone's interests. We also discussed potential specific steps that would help return the situation to normal. I emphasized the necessity of opening the Lachin road. I also noted Azerbaijan's willingness to carry out humanitarian supplies through Aghdam. I see both options as important and encourage humanitarian supplies from both sides to meet the needs of the population. I also welcomed the resumption of medical evacuations by the ICRC.’”

In fact, for the EU, which claims to advocate for human rights, the issue seems to return to a state of normality only if food is delivered to the Armenians living in Artsakh from Aghdam. This is simply shameful and a literal repetition of the Azerbaijani agenda. There is no mention of the disaster created in Artsakh, of Aliyev’s warmongering rhetoric, or aggressive actions.

This is how the EU behaves towards Azerbaijan, which it considers a “reliable partner.” The EU platform is the most unsuccessful of all negotiation platforms. From both the perspective of its interests and the lack of knowledge about the negotiation process and the essence of the issue, this platform is problematic. After these meetings, we unfortunately face a significant risk of escalation. Why? Because for aggressive and warlike Azerbaijan, such formulations by the EU are considered a green light...

There are also other problematic points, for example, when talking about the Baku-Stepanakert dialogue, there is no mention of international mechanisms. Well, there’s nothing to say about the shameful negotiations conducted by Pashinyan... In fact, there is no one representing the interests of our country in these negotiations.”