In an interview with Aktualne news agency of the Czech Republic, European Parliament member (MEP) Jaromír Štětina (Czech Republic) commented on his recent visit to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) along with two fellow MEPs, and for which Azerbaijan declared an international search for them. We present below the abridged version of this interview.

I and my two colleagues from the European Parliament had visited Nagorno-Karabakh at the invitation of the NKR parliament. 

We were in a team of [international] observers [i.e. observing Monday’s constitutional referendum] comprising 100 people.

The fact is that Azerbaijani laws do not function in this territory, for already 25 years.

As a journalist, I visited Karabakh in the [19]90s; during the years of that terrible war. The position of Azerbaijan, which considers Karabakh to be its own, is based on the policy of Stalin, who had annexed this Armenian territory to Azerbaijan, with the rule of “divide and rule.”  

Did you get anything for the trip?

(…) I never get anything for my work, either as a journalist or as a politician. I only obey my conscience, in both the first and the second role.

Was your trip [to Nagorno-Karabakh] organized under any sponsorship by the EU?

(…) I am a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence. The essence of my work is to visit regions of conflicts, to form my own sense about them.

Were you expecting that Azerbaijan would give an order for your arrest?

Yes, I knew that such a thing is possible. This is a part of Baku’s [respective] campaign, which began about a month ago, when Russian [Israeli] blogger [Alexander] Lapshin was arrested in [the Belarusian capital city of] Minsk; this is a part of the intimidation policy of Azerbaijan.

Are you not fearful that they can extradite you, too, to Azerbaijan [just like Lapshin]? 

I will not go to Minsk.