Doc. 11146
23 January 2007

Plans for “Shusha Liberation” monument in Armenia

Written question No 515 the Committee of Ministers
presented by Mrs Pashayeva

Armenia continues its policy of military occupation of 20% of the internationally recognised territory of a fellow Council of Europe member, the Republic of Azerbaijan. The territories occupied include, among others, the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where citizens of Azerbaijan of Armenian, Azerbaijani and other ethnicities used to live, prior to the ethnic cleansing pursued by the separatist regime.

One of the better-known historical centres of Azerbaijani culture in NK is the town of Shusha, where ethnic Azerbaijanis have always constituted an overwhelming majority of over 90% of the population. All of them have become internally displaced persons since 1992 as a result of Armenian aggression.

With the clear purpose of further distorting reality, once again misleading the international community, and legalizing a status quo achieved through force of arms, the Armenian side now plans to erect a monument to commemorate what the Yerevan mayor’s office calls the “liberation of Shusha”.

Considering all of these circumstances, Ganira Pashayeva asks the Committee of Ministers:

- will the Committee of Ministers request a legal and political assessment of the actions of the Armenian side by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs?

- what effective steps will the Committee of Ministers take by applying its means of influence on Armenia to stop the project, which clearly hampers the ongoing peace process and plays with the feelings of people who have now been deprived of homes and normal life for 15 years?

- why the Committee of Ministers does not make effective use of mechanisms at its disposal to influence the Government of Armenia to abstain in future from actions that prevent the achievement of lasting peace in the region, including its continued non-compliance with PACE Resolution 1416 (2005)?

Signed 1:

1        SOC: Socialist Group
      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party
      ALDE: Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
      EDG: European Democratic Group
      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left
      NR: not registered in a group