STEPANAKERT. - The report of the British MP and PACE rapporteur Robert Walter on Nagorno-Karabakh smacks of caviar, Karabakh President Spokesman Davit Babayan told Armenian News – NEWS.am.

Referring to Robert Walter’s fact-finding visit on September 15-16 to the line of contact from the side controlled by the Azeri authorities, Davit Babayan said: “He’s already holding meetings with certain Azeri dignitaries. We have repeatedly stated our readiness to discuss with anyone – be it a politician or a scientist – any issue related to the normalization of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh issue. But this [can only happen] in case this discussion is useful and the speaker has an objective stance,  if he’s not corrupt, namely if he wants to somehow contribute to the conflict normalization and maintenance of stability and peace in the region.”

According to Babayan, in this case they don’t see all the aforementioned. “We have informed Robert Walter through different diplomatic channels that if he really wants to prepare a scientifically grounded and impartial report, he must first of all write off the title [of the report] which is pro-Azerbaijani, anti-Armenian and merely shameful. Secondly, he must reconsider the philosophy of his document,” Babayan said.

All this, in his words, has not been implemented and thus, Robert Walter’s visit to Nagorno Karabakh is senseless. “He’d better go to Azerbaijan; the report has already been prepared there by the Azerbaijani president’s administration or the MFA. The caviar “parcels” are ready as well. Let him perform all the tasks he has been paid for and then return home,” Babayan concluded.  

According to the PACE statement, PACE co-rapporteur Robert Walter, who authors the report “Escalation of Violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan,” will carry out a fact-finding visit to the area of the line of contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh region from the side controlled by the Azeri authorities on 15-16 September.

“A visit on the other side of the line of contact is foreseen in the near future,” the statement reads.