COP29 is a scandal, not an opportunity, Member of the European Parliament François-Xavier Bellamy said in the European Parliament on 22 October 2024, as part of the debate on the human rights situation in Azerbaijan and the latter’s relations with Armenia.
He stressed that it is time for Europe to finally come out of its unconsciousness. He thanked Commissioner Nicolas Schmit for the strong words, but added that “COP29 is not an opportunity.” “COP29 is a scandal, a shame that will tarnish the very history of commitment to environmental protection in a country from which we buy gas, which is once again our collective cowardice,” Bellamy stated.
“It is time to denounce today the gas agreement that binds the European Commission with Azerbaijan, to take the necessary sanctions against Mr. Aliev and his regime and to finally say that democracy and the beating heart of Europe are on the side of the Armenian people who are fighting for freedom, for peace, for security in this region of the Caucasus as in the whole world,” he said.
“Mr Aliev, if you believe so much in your own power, why try to silence the voices that challenge you? If you believe so much in your legitimacy? Why use violence?” the MEP said.
He spoke of Azerbaijani President as “the executioner of the Armenian people, whom he has attacked on several occasions to drive them from their historical lands in Nagorno-Karabakh, but also now on the territory of the sovereign Republic of Armenia.”
