Yerevan /Mediamax/. European Parliament member Francois-Xavier Bellamy, who visited Armenia recently, writes that "Europe still has time to act and pay attention to the main problems of Armenian people.”

“The first is the fate of the prisoners of war, whom Azerbaijan is holding hostage contrary to human rights obligations and the country’s commitments. Armenia kept its word and released Azerbaijani POWs. Now it is waiting for Armenian POWs’ release, and thousands of families still live in anxiety over the fate of their captured sons. Such inhuman, illegal blackmail cannot continue: if our countries resolutely demanded the release of these people, they would have achieved it and showed that Armenia is not isolated and Europe has not fully lost the sense of responsibility, principles and interests that unite it with for a long time with this friendly country,” Bellamy writes in Le Figaro.

“With its decision to support unilateral attack, Turkey wanted to show that violence is finally more effective than dialogue for settling differences. By allowing Turkey to do it, the Western world created a dangerous precedent. Where are our principles?” the MP writes.

“If we allow countries to use banned weapons, commit war crimes and get long-term strategic benefit from it, we accept that force trumps law,” Bellamy notes.

“Just the fact that Turkey crosses the line on purpose is a disruption of unprecedented scale. I condemned our passive position in the European Parliament back in October of 2020. At Yerablur, I almost physically felt the damaging power of the silence, and I will never forget that moment. We keep talking about the rule of law, principles, values…The only result of this inconsistency can be the end of Europe’s influence, and not just in this region. Armenia, a democratic country tied to us through heritage of the same civilization, has strived to be closer to the EU and signed a partnership agreement with the union in 2017,” he recalls.

“During the conflict, the European Parliament adopted resolutions on “gender equality in foreign policy”, “impact of COVID-19 on the rule of law” and “European year of greener cities”. Armenia is mentioned just ones on the hundreds of pages of the documents approved in that period… A young Armenian shared his disappointment with me: if his 20-year-old friends, killed in the war, were little pandas, the European media would have spared them much more attention,” writes Francois-Xavier Bellamy.