Statement On the Arrest of Journalist Rauf Mirkadirov and Harassment of Leyla Yunus delivered by Ambassador Arman Kirakossian at the 1000th Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council

15 May, 2014

Statement On the Arrest of Journalist Rauf Mirkadirov and Harassment of Leyla Yunus delivered by Ambassador Arman Kirakossian at the 1000th Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council

May 15, 2014

Mr. Chairman,
We shared our views and concerns on further deterioration of human rights situation in Azerbaijan at the previous meeting of the Permanent Council and we took note that the Azerbaijani Delegation failed to address our concerns.
We would like to recall that according to the Joint Declaration adopted on January 23 2012 in Sochi “the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan reaffirmed that in the context of the Nagorno Karabakh settlement, the development of humanitarian contacts between the parties is part of the confidence building measures. With this regards, the Presidents expressed readiness to encourage the establishment of a subsequent dialogue between the representatives of intelligentsia, scientific and social circles”. In other words, Azerbaijan not only is not honoring its commitments but also prevents Track II initiatives on dialogue between civil societies of the parties to the conflict.
Apparently dehumanization of Armenians and the Azerbaijani civil society members go hand in hand and take the deplorable form of racism and political repression.
Any attempt to justify repression against journalists and generally representatives of civil society by misusing Nagorno-Karabakh issue diminishes possibility of both conflict resolution and democratization.
We would like to reiterate our call on Azerbaijan to stop arresting and intimidating representatives of its civil society who dare to raise their voices to advocate peace, mutual understanding and reconciliation.
Thank You.

MFA RA
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