The exclusive interview of Movlut Chavushoglu, President of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, to Mediamax news agency, June 2010
- Mr. President, do you see any problems in relations between Armenia and the Council of Europe?
- You know that I visited Armenia in May. Armenia is in a monitoring process. We do not want to call it a “problem”, but there are a lot of things to be done and a lot of reforms have to be made in Armenia, and we discuss all those issues.
There are issues regarding Armenia’s commitments: after 2008 elections, 10 people died and nobody was brought to charge for this. This is a very serious matter. So there are problems, but they are not very difficult ones. What we need is a strong political will for those commitments to be fulfilled by Armenian authorities.
- What is the main challenge that Armenian political forces, both the government and the opposition, face today? What is your opinion?
- I think it is the lack of a dialogue between the government and the opposition. This dialogue is necessary to fulfill the commitments taken and to continue the reform process in the country, because involvement of ruling coalition is not enough. The parties in the opposition should also contribute to do this. Therefore the dialogue is very important.
- Do you think regional cooperation in the South Caucasus is possible before the resolution of existing conflicts?
- Of course it is possible. I am a positive person, but all the countries shall take the necessary steps and act in a positive manner. I favor peace, and there shall be peaceful solution between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Also I favor opening the borders and solving problems between Armenia and Turkey, without any preconditions, like the decision made by the Constitutional Court in Armenia. This is my personal opinion. I am not speaking as the President of the Parliamentary Assembly. We have to be realistic and admit that without solving all the problems in the region, we cannot reach everlasting stability in the region.
- Mr. President, are you following the Nagorno Karabakh peace talks?
- I don’t know what is discussed at the OSCE Minsk process, so I do not know the details. I am following pulpit, but I have limited knowledge. We had a meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian delegations at PACE. It was a good meeting. They did not agree on every subject, but this is the dialogue that I am trying to enhance here. We can focus on humanitarian issues and in future we can invite representatives of both Armenian and Azerbaijani communities of Nagorno Karabakh as well. We would like to contribute to this part in order not to duplicate the work of OSCE Minsk Group.
- Do you want the Council of Europe to play a more active role in Nagorno Karabakh issue by creating a PACE subcommittee on Nagorno Karabakh?
- It is not because I want. It is the corresponding PACE resolution. It is not my personal idea. This is the wrong information that the media and some parts of opposition are trying to give in Armenia. This is not fair. This is not my personal opinion. These are not my personal initiatives. This is not really nice, not an honest way to give information to Armenian community, Armenian people. This is not fair. This is not my personal initiative. This is a resolution. It was adopted by PACE in 2005.
- What do you think about the possibility of a new war between Azerbaijan and Armenia?
- We do not want war. We want a peaceful solution. But everybody has to fulfill their commitments to have peaceful solution. This is the problem in the region right now. But war does not bring peace. We saw this in many regions. We have the hot Georgia-Russia issue, so war does not solve any problem.
- On June 19, the next day after the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian Presidents met in Saint Petersburg, Azerbaijani subversive group crossed the border, killing 4 and wounding other 4 Armenian soldiers. What is your reaction to this incident?
- I never heard about it. When did it happen? I was here on 19. It was Saturday.
- There was a statement of OSCE Minsk Group, and they condemned this incident. I thought you know about it.
- No.
- Don't you think that this time international community and the Council of Europe have to publicly condemn this operation realized by Azerbaijan as the absence of strong international condemnation is one of the factors that make such actions possible?
- As I said, I did not have any idea or information about this, so without any information and knowledge I cannot make a comment on this.
- And why doesn’t the international community urge Azerbaijan to stop its militaristic statements?
- What do you mean by that?
- They have military budget growing each year and they constantly make statements about the possibility of beginning a war against Armenia.
- I haven’t seen such statements. And if I haven’t seen such statements, I will not make a comment on them. We already had ten minutes. Thank you very much.
- But you promised twenty minutes.
- My friend, we have to be honest with each other. At the beginning, I said ten minutes.
- I have the last two questions concerning the Turkish-Armenian process. Is it possible to open the border in future?
- It depends on Armenia. This is not my opinion, but this is the opinion of Turkish authorities. It is clear that if Armenia does not withdraw its troops from the occupied areas, protocols will not be ratified, and all the Turkish parties agree on that.
- Some Armenian political forces and media often accuse you of being biased and “pro-Azerbaijani”. Those people think that you want to “punish” Armenia.
- Those people are liars - the media and members of the opposition. I have never attempted to punish Armenia. I had a very successful visit to Yerevan in May. All the countries, including Turkey, are equal to me. This is not fair. I am not trying to punish. Those people in Armenia and the journalists are not honest. This is very bad. This is racism against me. I have never tried to punish anybody. Ask David Harutyunyan, he is the Head of the Armenian Delegation to PACE. If there is anything, he knows it.
