Armenian MP Armen Ashotyan delivers speech at Euronest PA conference in Baku, Azerbaijan

Chairman of the foreign relations committee of the Armenian Parliament Armen Ashotyan, who also serves as the leader of the country’s delegation to Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, delivered a speech September 22 during the assembly’s ongoing conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The Armenian delegation also held a press conference during a break. The video of the press conference is currently unavailable due to technical reasons, additional information will be provided a bit later.

After the press conference, a representative of the infamous so-called Peace Platform Syuzan Jaghinyan attempted to make provocations, which was adequately responded by the Armenian delegation. The Armenian delegation also requested the organizers of the conference to take measures in order to rule out similar provocations in the future.

Armenia’s delegate Mane Tandilyan, in response to the Azerbaijani APA news agency, said that they are planning to tour Baku on September 23. “We will tour different districts of Baku, we’ll see how the Armenian heritage has been preserved”, she said.

Speaking about the decision to participate in the Euronest PA conference, Armen Ashotyan stressed that the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly is an important platform for Armenia.

“Armenia is preparing to sign a new agreement with the European Union. In addition, we’ve arrived here to not allow propaganda and anti-Armenian rhetoric during an event in which European lawmakers are also participating. Unfortunately, such rhetoric was allowed in certain speeches. However, it must be taken into consideration that we didn’t come here to discuss the Nagorno Karabakh conflict”, he said.

Commenting on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, Ashotyan emphasized that the only legitimate format for the solution is the OSCE Minsk Group. “Discussions are held in this format. Unfortunately, Azerbaijan re-launched military operations in April of the last year, which broke this process. Today, the activities of the Minsk Group are aimed at restoring trust between the sides. It will be possible to pass to the next phase of talks only after restoring trust. The Nagorno Karabakh conflict should be settled only peacefully, within the framework of the peoples’ self-determination right, territorial integrity and security guarantees from the international community. These principles must be on the negotiations table. It is important that now all sides agree to take steps in this process”, Azerbaijani media quoted Ashotyan as saying.