EU Reporter: `Double-standard` approach undermines EU`s position
Baku, April 2 (AZERTAC ). EU Reporter, the only truly independent publication dedicated to the European Union affairs, has published an article titled The EU and the South Caucasus - A Case of Double Standards!
The article`s author, Colin Stevens, says the EU uses two completely different languages with regard to the conflicts in Georgia and the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“While expressing its strong support to the principles of territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of the internationally recognized borders of Georgia as the basis for the conflict settlement, the EU prefers to talk about the principles such as non-use of force and rights of people for self-determination when it comes to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”
“This `double-standard` approach both undermines the position of the EU as a neutral actor trying to contribute to the conflict settlement and decreases its credibility and creates a negative image among the European public,” says Stevens.
“Neither the Helsinki Final Act nor the UN Charter calls for the secession of a part of a country without its authorization and the agreement of the people living in that area.
However, breach of these documents is observed in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and there are numerous attempts to justify the results of occupation and ethnic cleansing in this region, thus delaying the conflict settlement and keeping the status quo.”
“Most recently in February, the Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) of the European Parliament proposed an initiative to arrange a trip of some MEPs visiting Baku to Nagorno-Karabakh region via crossing the Line of Contact and later continuing to Armenia. According to the sources in the EP, while the official Baku responded positively to this proposal of AFET Chair MEP Elmar Brok, the Armenian side put forward some unrealistic and not so constructive conditions in front of the EP and thus, leading to the failure of this initiative.”
“Failure of this trip was negatively perceived by the AFET members and was not contributing to building a mutual confidence between the conflicting countries, something that the EU was putting many efforts lately.
A few weeks after the AFET group`s trip to Azerbaijan and Armenia, the FAC adopted its conclusions on the South Caucasus, both on bilateral relations with the three countries as well as the conflict situation.”
Stevens notes: “Although in this document, the EU "underlines the need for unconditional access for the representatives of the EU to Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions", there has been no formal statement by the EU officials to clarify what is exactly meant under "unconditional access".
“The Armenian press in its turn has started giving their interpretation to this issue in a way that suggests the EU wants to travel to Nagorno-Karabakh without the consent of Azerbaijan via any route it decides to use.
But it can be understood that the EU was frustrated by the approach of Armenia with regard to the AFET initiative and most probably used this language to prevent Armenia from such reactions in future.”
“The EU is based on the principles of rule of law and widely promotes it worldwide. It would be a mistake therefore to make legal judgments which would result in the EU entering the territory of a third country without its agreement thus violating the laws of that particular country. The Council states in its conclusions that: ‘The EU stands ready to provide enhanced support for confidence building measures’.
“Nevertheless, in order to build confidence amongst the peoples of the region it is of outmost importance to treat all citizens equally, applying the same approach to all,” the author concludes.
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