Vice-President of the Republican Party of Armenia Armen Ashotyan posted the following on his Facebook page:

“When Armenia is represented by ‘bagpipes’ of the authorities

The session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe showed that the existing ‘pack’ of conspirators is unable to pursue Armenia’s interests.

The delegation representing Armenia failed to:

1. Introduce the return of prisoners of war in the agenda of the PACE session.

2. Reach targeted statements blaming Azerbaijan in the report of the PACE Monitoring Committee.

However, I believe the third one is the biggest omission.

During the war, I had stated the need to use international mechanisms for investigation into the war in order to enshrine Azerbaijan’s military aggression and war crimes at the international level, along with all the consequences. This international mechanism first and foremost concerns the PACE, which has such a mandate and toolkit.

Moreover, through our efforts, the political message to investigate the war through the PACE was also conveyed the European People’s Party (the most influential political family in Europe) on December 7, 2020. It was stated that the need for a detailed and transparent investigation into the circumstances of the war and war crimes is important, including through the use of the toolkit and mechanisms of the PACE.

Similar statements on the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh were also included in the annual Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) Report adopted by the European Parliament on January 20, 2021, and in the annual Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) Report, the European Parliament calls for an international investigation into all the allegations regarding the existence of foreign militias and the use of cluster munitions and phosphorus bombs.

This year in Strasbourg, in its report, the PACE reiterated the alarms sounded and the need for investigation of war crimes stated during the war, that is, the following: “The Assembly expresses its serious concern about reports and allegations of violations of humanitarian and human rights law by all sides during this conflict and allegations of degradations to some religious sites and monuments, as well as destruction of private property, and expects these reports to be fully investigated and any violations to be remedied and the perpetrators prosecuted.”

One has to be perfectly insane to overlook this very prospective proposal and to be satisfied with primitive texts for the internal audience in a favorable international environment.

The PACE should have and could have launched this process that is in the interests of Armenia.

Unfortunately, Armenia was represented by ‘bagpipes’ of the authorities.”