European Commission President José Manuel Barroso paid his first visit to Azerbaijan last week.
The main purpose of the visit was to sign an agreement between the EU and Azerbaijan on creating the Southern Gas Corridor, but the EC president also spoke about the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Hardly had the ink dried on the documents signed by the EU and Azerbaijan, than Armenian mass media picked up on José Manuel Barroso's Karabakh remarks.
The EC president spoke in Baku about the principle of the territorial integrity of states but did not say a single word about other principles which were later cited by Armenian media.
Armenian journalists approached the European Commission president's spokesman, Michael Katnichnik, to ask about the president's remarks.
“The position of the European Union or its representatives on Nagorno-Karabakh should be studied from the official website of the European Union and not from what others write,” Katnichnik told Armenpress.
“Certainly, in different cases Barroso spoke of the principle of the territorial integrity of states, as one of the three principles of conflict settlement. This is one of those important principles, on which the world community came to an agreement - the other two principles are the right of people to self-determination and the peaceful solution of conflicts,” he said. He added that Barroso had earlier stated the need for a diplomatic settlement of the Karabakh conflict and had described the use of bellicose rhetoric as inadmissible.
In addition, Katnichnik said the EU fully supported the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group to solve the Karabakh conflict and said the EU would intensify its efforts in the negotiating process, only if the parties asked the organization to do so. “Thus, Barroso’s statements on the Karabakh conflict are very balanced and consonant with the position of the international community,” Armenpress quoted the spokesman as saying.
Clarification
During his speech, Jose Manuel Barroso made no mention of self-determination (see the video below)
“Let me also stress that the European Union does of course support the principle of the territorial integrity of its partners including Azerbaijan. We are fully backing the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group and we are already funding confidence-building measures on the ground and we stand ready to provide further support if agreed by all parties, political support to the peace process and reconstruction and assistance once a settlement has been agreed."
The differences between the words of Barroso’s spokesman and the speech of Barroso himself are obvious. Katnichnik said that Barroso regarded territorial integrity as one of three principles, alongside the "right of nations to self-determination" and the principle of the "peaceful resolution of conflicts", though the European Commission president spoke only about territorial integrity.
The European Union website, to which Katnichnik refers, also changes the quotes of its boss
The website quotes Barroso as saying the following in Baku: "I shared my concerns on the lack of progress in Nagorno-Karabakh. I expressed my deep sympathy to the families and communities who suffer from it. It is high time for all parties to make further efforts for a swift peaceful solution. The work of the OSCE Minsk Group must therefore continue. The EU fully backs its efforts. The EU stands ready to provide further support if agreed by all parties: political support to the peace process and reconstruction assistance once a settlement has been agreed."
The EU website makes no reference to the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, although Barroso stated it quite clearly in Baku.
It is at best ironic for Michael Katnichnik to accuse Azerbaijan of distorting Barroso’s words, when the video recording of his speech proves that his words were not distorted at all, while the EU's official website is busily changing José Manuel Barroso's remarks. Or is the European Commission president trying to qualify retrospectively his comments in Baku?
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
