YEREVAN. – At the main OSCE Parliamentary Assemblies, where the main discussions are taking place, Azerbaijan has always tried to put wording that is favorable to the interests of Azerbaijan at various times through its lobbying, the most diverse shadowy, caviar trickery. Hayk Konjoryan, head of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA), stated this today during a meeting with reporters in the NA, reflecting on the recent OSCE PA winter session in Luxembourg.

According to him, the Azerbaijanis had put forward some problematic points in Luxembourg, but the Armenian delegation managed to neutralize 99% of all the dangerous wording. "The most dangerous wording that, as a result of the lobbying of Azerbaijan, the former rapporteur had put in his preliminary text in very suspicious circumstances, was that the so-called '7 regions' of Azerbaijan wording," Konjoryan stated. “Then, naturally, the same rapporteur withdrew that wording, realizing that it was an injudicious wording, and it does not take into account the common vocabulary of the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group. That was a total fiasco for Azerbaijan in that part because we were able to abort those attempts of theirs.

In Luxembourg, another very important point for us was that we were able to incorporate in the Luxembourg Declaration a provision on the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, which calls on the other member countries of the Parliamentary Assembly comprising 57 countries to follow the examples of France and Italy, as well as to take steps to prevent and condemn the Genocide."

The Armenian MP added that, usually, territorial integrity comes to the forefront in the cases of the Ukrainian and Georgian conflicts, and Azerbaijan is constantly trying to present Karabakh in that same "basket." "However, we have been able to convey the message to our international partners that conflicts are different, that if the provision of territorial integrity can be considered a priority in one conflict, the provision of nations' self-determination can be considered a priority in the case of another conflict," Konjoryan added. “In the Artsakh issue, we argue that the right of nations to self-determination must be at least equally observable with the other two principles of the Helsinki Final Act.

In the Luxembourg Declaration we have specified a provision that clearly records that the Karabakh conflict must be settled on the basis of three principles of the Helsinki Final Act, and all three principles were enumerated, including the right of nations to self-determination. This is the first declaration in the last 10 years that states in the full context that the Karabakh conflict must be resolved on the basis of these three principles; this completely neutralizes all other attempts of Azerbaijan."