Agreement Difficult in Face of Intolerance, Says Sarkisian

STRASBOURG-In a speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe, President Serzh Sarkisian on Wednesday outlined Armenia's vision for the Karabakh conflict, stability in the region, as well as Armenia's relations with Europe. He warned, however, that an agreement on Karabakh would be difficult to achieve in the face of continued intolerance and "Armenophobia" by Azerbaijan.
Sarkisian cited a recent report by European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, which reconfirmed the extreme level of racism against Armenians being practiced in Azerbaijan and urged Baku to adopt appropriate laws to curb those social attitudes.
"We regret this fact, because it is hard to imagine such a situation in a member state of the Council of Europe. We regret this, because we clearly understand that the poison of intolerance strikes most heavily the society bearing such poison," said Sarkisian saying that the report was troubling because the Karabakh conflict is still unresolved, hinting that Baku's policies can impact Azerbaijan's approach to the conflict.
Sarkisian said that he, nevertheless, would be traveling to Kazan, Russia to take party in a meeting with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev to discuss the so-called "basic principles" of the OSCE Minsk Group peace plan, because peace and stability in the region were important for Armenia.
"However, we all should realize that an agreement can be finalized and effectively implemented only when the patterns of Armenophobia and racism are eliminated in Azerbaijan and an atmosphere of trust is formed. Naturally, no one may question the inherent right of the people of Karabakh to live freely and safely on their land and to be the masters of their destiny," said Sarkisian.
The president also discussed the Armenia-Turkey normalization process, saying that Turkey had placed the matter in a "deadlock."