Guide to European Parliament's Resolution and Debate on South Caucasus

Resolution Paragraphs and Pre-Vote Speeches on Nagorno-Karabakh

Nagorno-Karabakh Paragraphs

6:    Condemns the idea of a military solution in NK.
7:    Supports the established Minsk group peace process.
8:    Demands the withdrawal of Armenian forces from all territories surrounding NK; calls for international forces to provide security guarantees for NK in such an event; calls for the return of refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes.
9:    Calls on authorities to act responsibly in shaping local public opinion on conflict resolution.
10:   Recognises that interim status for NK could offer a positive step towards coexistence; calls for  universal abandonment of the idea that territories surrounding NK are part of NK.
11:   Recommends a large EU monitoring and security presence on the ground in NK following a political solution.
12:   Rejects any link between conflict resolution in NK and the Armenia-Turkey rapprochement process.
42:   Calls for EU aid and information dissemination to be provided and extended to NK as in Abkhazia  and South Ossetia.
Click here to read these paragraphs, and the resolution, in full

Nagorno-Karabakh Speeches

- Excerpts from the Nagorno-Karabakh speeches appear below. To see the video of any speech, or to read its full text, click on the relevant link beneath the excerpt.
 
- Please note: The videos of the speeches feature a multi-language service, but the texts may not be available in the language of your choice.
 
Dr Charles Tannock MEP, UK (European Conservatives and Reformists)
“As a strong friend of Armenia, I am glad that the final version of the report is more balanced than the initial ones. However, I still remain concerned about elements of the report that appear to contradict the EUs official position on the resolution of the NK issue, and the MINSK Group’s position in particular.
 
Armenia has now made courageous efforts to resolve this long standing impasse over NK. It has also sought, through a normalization of relations with Turkey, a move that should stabilize the south Caucasus. If only Turkey in itself would respond in a similarly constructive manner without pre-conditions.”
(click here to view Dr Tannock MEP’s speech)
(click here for the full text of Dr Tannock MEP’s speech)

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Ulrike Lunacek MEP, Austria (Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance)
“We need to move away from the high levels of military spending, which have increased recently, to spending which is in the interests of ordinary people”

(click here to view Ms Lunacek MEP's speech)

(click here to see the full text of Ms Lunacek MEP's speech)

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Krzystof Lisek MEP, Poland (Group of the European People’s Party)
“The European Union must acknowledge the right of every nation to self-determination, to shape their own future. We must not agree to an archaic definition of ‘influence zones’.”
(click here to view Mr Lisek MEP’s speech)
(click here to read the full text of Mr Lisek MEP’s speech)

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Andrey Kovatchev MEP, Bulgaria (Group of the European People’s Party)
“The report states rightly that the negotiations for the opening of the [Armenia-Turkey] border and the establishment of diplomatic relations are very important and especially, the Minsk group that deals with Nagorno-Karabakh should be treated as a separate issue.”
(click here to view Mr Kovatchev MEP’s speech)
(click here to read the full text of Mr Kovatchev MEP’s speech)

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Mr Dimitar Stoyanov MEP, Bulgaria (Independent)
“I would like to inform you ladies and gentleman that the rapporteurs Kirilov and Kazak belong to political parties which have been voting systematically in the Bulgarian parliament against recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
It is strange that this report is conflicting some positions, as Mr Tannock said. For instance on NK some organizations have contacted me and they told me that the report has not been co-ordinated with leading personalities with the Minsk group. It does not respect the Madrid criteria. So this is my constructive criticism towards the colleague Kirilov, because I think that a one-sided position in favour of one side will not help solve the conflict. We need a flexible approach that would reflect the viewpoints of everybody because the conflict will never be solved in this way.”
(click here to view Mr Stoyanov MEP’s speech)
(click here to read the full text of Mr Stoyanov MEP’s speech)

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Mr Graham Watson MEP, UK (Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe)
“If our relations are seen purely through the prism of our need for oil and gas, we will exacerbate tensions and fail to achieve security in other senses.”
(click here to view Mr Watson MEP’s speech)
(click here to read the full text of Mr Watson MEP’s speech)

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Mr Jaroslav Paska MEP, Slovakia (Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group)
“If you look at this report on the need for an EU strategy on the South Caucasus, in the part about Nagorno Karabakh in the wordings there you will find that our position  is not in harmony with the official point of view of the EU and also the view of the foreign ministers of the 56 OECD countries.
“If you look at 8 and 10 you can see that these paragraphs are not in line with the proposals from the OECD. If this report is adopted without amendments to paragraphs 8 and 10, this might actually be a spoke in the wheel of a peaceful resolution to the conflict in NK. So, given these reservations, either we should remove these contentious paragraphs from the report or we could actually postpone the vote on this report  to a later date so that our Armenian friends can better explain their point of view.”
(click here to view Mr Paska MEP’s speech)
(click here to read the full text of Mr Paska MEP’s speech)

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Mr Stefan Fule, Commissioner for EU enlargement (European Commision)
“Mr Paska had a very important point. I believe that we have a strategy, and the strategy is, through the Eastern Partnership, to get these three countries closer to the European Union.”
(click here to view Mr Fule’s opening remarks)
(click here to view Mr Fule’s closing remarks) 

Full Debate

-  To view the full debate FIRST click here to go to the European Parliament TV website. THEN, follow the 3 step guide below (Please note that the image below is for illustrative purposes only).
- To read the full debate text click here.