MEP seeks to justify his trip to separatist Nagorno-Karabakh

European Parliament's rapporteur on Armenia Tomasz Poręba traveled to Nagorno-Karabakh on his own initiative to review the situation on the ground and preparation of a report. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry insists on the need for consultation with the Azerbaijani side in organizing visits to the occupied territory.  

"As a Standing Rapporteur for Armenia I felt that getting to know something more about the region is crucial in order to prepare an objective and comprehensive report. The goal [of non-official visit to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh] was to get the feeling of the situation on the ground," Poreba told Trend on Thursday.

MEP, the keynote speaker on Armenia Tomasz Poręba, visited Nagorno-Karabakh during his recent trip to Armenia. There he held meetings with the leadership of the unrecognized republic and discussing issues concerning the resolution of the Karabakh conflict, the situation in the region and bilateral relations, the Armenian media outlets reported earlier.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry insists on the need for consultations with the Azerbaijani side when visiting the occupied territories.

"If Poręba would tend to make an impartial report, before his visit to Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, he had to discuss this issue with official circles of Azerbaijan, to know our position and our attitude towards his visit," Foreign Ministry spokesman Elkhan Polukhov told Trend.

Even for a temporary visit to the occupied Azerbaijani territories, it needs to obtain permission from the Azerbaijani side, he said.

In the light of illigal entry to the territories of Nagorno Karabakh, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on Tuesday presented a protest note to the head of the EU delegation in Azerbaijan Roland Kobia and Polish ambassador Mikhal Labenda.

The opposite side was informed that this incident caused serious protest of the Azerbaijani side.  It was reported that it was undesirable for foreign citizens to pay illegal visits to the Azerbaijani occupied lands because they show disrespect to sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The EU mission in Baku said earlier that the response on behalf of the European Union will be sent to the Foreign Ministry. According to Poreba, during his visit both to Armenia and to NK, he continuously stressed that his goal as a rapporteur is not solving the NK conflict. Conflict resolution will only be mentioned in 1-2 points of the report, he said.

However the report would never be objective and complete without visiting the region, Poreba supposes.

"During the visit I also repeated that the only platform to solve the conflict is through negotiations via the OSCE Minsk Group, Poreba said. I fully support the Madrid Principles and hope that the conflict will be solved by good cooperation of all sides within its framework."

MEP Poręba told Trend that he would be happy to meet with the authorities of Azerbaijan soon in order to get to know their point of view on the whole situation.

"I am going to to prepare a very objective report, which would not favor any side, but truth," he said.

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry announced MEP Tomasz Poręba persona non grata. According to Elkhan Polukhov, naming in the blacklist is the result of actions of Poręba himself that casts doubt on the impartiality of his position.

Poręba himself sincerely hopes that putting him on the Azerbaijan's 'Black List' will not be confirmed, and that he will have "the opportunity to freely speak to the other side of the conflict". 


/Trend/