Speaking prior to the free debates scheduled for the second working-day of the PACE part-session, Ariev said he faced pressure from members of the Armenian delegation because of the phrase “The Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan” he had used in his report titled “Attacks against journalists and media freedom in Europe”, which is expected to be discussed the other day.
“Armenians are demanding me to change this phrase. I’m facing pressure from the Armenian delegation. However, I will not make any changes in my report,” he noted.
Speaking to journalists, the Ukrainian delegation head said that he mentioned in his report titled “Attacks against journalists and media freedom in Europe” that no concession can be made on issues concerning the territorial integrity of states.
“Ms. Rustamyan, a member of the Armenian delegation, was distributing the translation of my interview to Azerbaijani media outlets among the participants of the session,” he said, adding. “I said in those interviews that Azerbaijan and Ukraine need to have good bilateral ties. And I whenever I have said something offensive to Azerbaijan, I have apologized. I indeed have made some critical remarks against Azerbaijan. But I’ve never said that Azerbaijan is a bad country and thus the Ukrainian president had better not visit this country. That’s absurd.”
Ariev continued: “Even the fact that my great-grandma was Azerbaijani sometimes draws criticism. I’m of mixed Russian and Jewish origin as well. So what am I supposed to do? Refrain from criticizing the Russian government owing to my Russian origin? It’s nothing but an uncivilized way of putting pressure on others.”
“By this means, the Armenian delegation desires that I change the phrase “The Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan” which I used in my report. But I won’t do that, because we must support the territorial integrity of countries that are members of the Council of Europe. I will keep making critical statements against Azerbaijan for the situation of human rights and democracy. However, there can’t be a talk of any compromise when it comes to the territorial integrity of a country,” he added.
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