By Karen Harutyunyan
Armenia would violate the principles of its COP17 presidency if it used the conference’s multilateral negotiating platform to raise environmental damage linked to Azerbaijan’s military presence in Shikahogh reserve, Environment Minister Hambardzum Matevosyan told CivilNet.
Speaking in an interview recorded on Friday, Matevosyan said such issues were addressed in bilateral discussions. The full Armenian-language interview will be published on Monday.
“But bringing those issues to the COP platform, which is a multilateral negotiating platform, not a bilateral one, would, I think, be very wrong, and we ourselves would violate the principles of our presidency,” he said.
Armenia will host the main COP17 negotiations on October 19–30, preceded by a leaders’ summit on October 15. The conference brings together parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to review progress toward global conservation targets.
Matevosyan was responding to a question about protecting nature reserves affected by military occupation, including reports of tree cutting in Shikahogh, in Armenia’s southern Syunik region.
In a June report by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, Azatutyun, residents said Azerbaijani troops were cutting forest to build roads and military positions. Forestry expert Ayser Ghazaryan, who monitors the area using satellite imagery, estimated that about 60 hectares of forest had been destroyed and said the cutting continued.
The report said Matevosyan had acknowledged ecosystem damage but that its extent would be assessed after border delimitation. Ghazaryan argued that COP17 offered an opportunity to raise the issue and seek the withdrawal of military units from the protected area without undermining peace efforts.
Asked by CivilNet whether the damage should nevertheless be addressed because it directly concerned biodiversity, Matevosyan distinguished between Armenia’s national concerns and its role as conference president.
“We discuss these issues, of course, but not from the COP platform in our capacity as the COP presidency. We discuss them during our bilateral meetings and various discussions, which are not always public,” he said.
He added that, as an Armenian official and citizen, his foremost priority was preserving and nurturing the peace agenda.
Prisoners and neutrality
Asked whether Armenia would raise the return of Armenian prisoners held in Azerbaijan during COP17, Matevosyan did not give a direct answer. He said his role as conference president required neutrality and referred the question to other authorized officials.
“As COP17 president, I have promised to be as neutral as possible,” he said.
While acknowledging the conference’s political significance, he said geopolitical issues should be kept separate from environmental negotiations as far as possible to help secure the best outcome.
Armenia also did not publicly raise the prisoners’ issue at two European summits held in Yerevan in May: the European Political Community summit on May 4 and the first EU-Armenia summit on May 5.
Ahead of those meetings, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said discussing the prisoners with EU partners would not be effective and that the matter should instead be addressed through direct contacts with Baku. During the European Political Community summit, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev described former Nagorno-Karabakh officials imprisoned in Baku as “war criminals.” Pashinyan did not respond publicly.
Armenian officials maintain that the detainees’ return remains part of negotiations with Azerbaijan.
Stories
