Azernews.Az

Armenia’s ultra-nationalist Dashnaktsutyun party has opposed establishment of a subcommittee under the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to deal with the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh.
Dashnaktsutyun chairman, Vaan Ovannisian, while addressing parliament Tuesday, called upon the Armenian PACE delegation to oppose the measure, Armenian media reported.
The proposal to re-establish the subcommittee on Garabagh settlement was made by Turkish lawmaker Movlud Chavushoglu after his recent election as PACE president.
Ovannisian claimed that by restoring the work of the subcommittee, Turkey is trying to significantly interfere with the Minsk process, referring to the peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, saying the Armenian delegation should therefore oppose this initiative.
"I understand that our delegation’s declaring an impeachment for PACE President Movlud Chavushoglu is difficult, but we have to prevent the establishment of a subcommittee on Upper Garabagh in PACE," Ovannisian alleged.
Chavushoglu was elected PACE president in January, becoming the first Turk to head the organization. During his recent visit to Armenia, Dashnaktsutyun representatives refused to meet with him due to Chavushoglu’s not having paid tribute to the monument to the alleged genocide of Armenians, a claim on the World War I-era mass killings in the Ottoman Empire.
The Armenian nationalists have also opposed the initiative of Turkey and Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic to build a railway and create an air link. Dashnaktsutyun MP Ara Nranyan claims that these projects pose a threat to Armenia’s national security.
"Turkey is taking strides toward stationing its military bases in Nakhchivan," the lawmaker maintained. "But Armenia’s failing to react to this is unacceptable. Turkish military presence in this territory defies our country’s national security from the geo-political viewpoint."
Nakhchivan has been under Armenian economic blockade since the USSR’s collapse. Also, 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, including Upper Garabagh and seven adjacent districts, has been under Armenian occupation since the two South Caucasus republics signed a precarious cease-fire in 1994 following a lengthy war.*