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FRENCH MPS IN 'SOLIDARITY' VISIT TO KARABAKH
August 22, 2011
RFE/RL -- Four members of France's parliament visited
Nagorno-Karabakh on Monday in a show of support for the disputed
territory's pursuit of international recognition of its secession
from Azerbaijan. The delegation led by Guy Teissier, chairman of the
French National Assembly's committee on national defense, met with
local parliamentarians and was due to hold separate talks with Bako
Sahakian, president of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
(NKR).
"Coming to Armenia is a gesture of friendship. Coming to Karabakh
is a gesture of solidarity," Teissier said in a speech at the NKR
parliament. France - Guy Teissier, chairman of the National Assembly
committee on defense. The senior lawmaker, who is affiliated with
France's ruling Union for the Popular Movement (UMP) party, said that
Karabakh had been incorporated into Soviet Azerbaijan "at the whim
of a dictator" and that its predominantly Armenian population should
be able to determine its status.
"Why would we keep silent and not say that people very deeply rooted
in this land have the right to live here?" added Teissier.Jacques
Remiller, another UMP deputy and the mayor of the French city of
Vienne, also voiced "great sympathy" for the Karabakh Armenian cause.
"Just as other nations like Kosovo and Cyprus, where they have two
governments, they [the Karabakh Armenians] have the right decide
their destiny by themselves," Remiller told RFE/RL's Armenian service.
The French lawmakers are scheduled to tour on Tuesday several Karabakh
villages and meet with leaders of local non-governmental organizations
uniting Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan.
The visit is bound to anger the Azerbaijani government which considers
such trips an affront to its internationally recognized sovereignty
over Karabakh. It has already banned scores of foreign dignitaries,
who have been to the territory without its permission, from visiting
Azerbaijan.
Among those blacklisted by Baku are five other French deputies who
traveled to Karabakh in June 2010. The trip was initiated by Francois
Rochebloine, the pro-Armenian deputy chairman of the French parliament
committee on foreign affairs.Teissier defended the visits. "Don't we,
free people from a free country, have the right to freely visit here
and see our friends?" he said.
From: A. Papazian
August 22, 2011
RFE/RL -- Four members of France's parliament visited
Nagorno-Karabakh on Monday in a show of support for the disputed
territory's pursuit of international recognition of its secession
from Azerbaijan. The delegation led by Guy Teissier, chairman of the
French National Assembly's committee on national defense, met with
local parliamentarians and was due to hold separate talks with Bako
Sahakian, president of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
(NKR).
"Coming to Armenia is a gesture of friendship. Coming to Karabakh
is a gesture of solidarity," Teissier said in a speech at the NKR
parliament. France - Guy Teissier, chairman of the National Assembly
committee on defense. The senior lawmaker, who is affiliated with
France's ruling Union for the Popular Movement (UMP) party, said that
Karabakh had been incorporated into Soviet Azerbaijan "at the whim
of a dictator" and that its predominantly Armenian population should
be able to determine its status.
"Why would we keep silent and not say that people very deeply rooted
in this land have the right to live here?" added Teissier.Jacques
Remiller, another UMP deputy and the mayor of the French city of
Vienne, also voiced "great sympathy" for the Karabakh Armenian cause.
"Just as other nations like Kosovo and Cyprus, where they have two
governments, they [the Karabakh Armenians] have the right decide
their destiny by themselves," Remiller told RFE/RL's Armenian service.
The French lawmakers are scheduled to tour on Tuesday several Karabakh
villages and meet with leaders of local non-governmental organizations
uniting Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan.
The visit is bound to anger the Azerbaijani government which considers
such trips an affront to its internationally recognized sovereignty
over Karabakh. It has already banned scores of foreign dignitaries,
who have been to the territory without its permission, from visiting
Azerbaijan.
Among those blacklisted by Baku are five other French deputies who
traveled to Karabakh in June 2010. The trip was initiated by Francois
Rochebloine, the pro-Armenian deputy chairman of the French parliament
committee on foreign affairs.Teissier defended the visits. "Don't we,
free people from a free country, have the right to freely visit here
and see our friends?" he said.
From: A. Papazian