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Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan discussed - in an interview with News.am - the draft report on the Sarsang reservoir in Nagorno Karabakh. The draft controversially called “The Intentional Deprivation of Access of Residents of Azerbaijani Border Territories  to Drinking Water” was approved at the November 23 meeting of the PACE Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development.

According to the press service of Armenian Foreign Ministry, Shavarsh Kocharyan made the following comments:

“Quite recently we witnessed the reaction of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs to the draft report of  British MP Robert Walter submitted to the Political Affairs Committee of the PACE.  The Co-chairs’ statement in particular said that considering the sensitivity of the negotiations, attempts to change the format or create parallel mechanisms can disrupt the negotiation process and impede progress towards a settlement. No doubt, after such an unambiguous warning, the submission – this time to PACE’s Social Affairs Committee -  of another report distorting the Karabakh conflict settlement issues is obviously aimed at hindering the efforts of OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs towards a resolution of the Karabakh conflict.

The draft report plays into Azerbaijani propaganda’s hands and fits into the process of frustrating the negotiations by official Baku, the constant attempts by the Azerbaijani side to escalate the situation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the line of contact between the armed forces of Karabakh and Azerbaijan, and the intention to change the format of the problem discussion, and introduce the logic of constant criticism of the Co-chairs.  Also worrying is the circumstance that some MP of PACE become a tool of Azerbaijani propaganda as during a vote they call white black, denigrate, first of all themselves, and try to cast aspersions on the reputation of PACE.

It is noteworthy that the rapporteur traveled to Azerbaijan twice, but she did not take the trouble to visit Karabakh so as to familiarize herself with the situation at Sarsang reservoir. It is clear that the rapporteur pursues other goals – otherwise she would not ignore the fact that the Karabakh authorities on November 18, 2015, gave an affirmative response to a written proposal to visit Karabakh. Otherwise, she would answer the letters of the head of Armenian delegation to PACE in August and November, in which a readiness was expressed to receive the rapporteur. As a result, a report was submitted regarding the reservoir that the rapporteur was unwilling to see, but instead she filled her report with made-up arguments.

The haste, with which the rapporteur filed her report prior to the completion of her mandate, reveals that she feels envy for “glory and honor” of Robert Walter in Baku”.

As was reported, Milica Marovic’s draft report on the Sarsang reservoir was discussed on November 23 at a regular meeting of the PACE Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development.