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PRESS CONFERENCE OF PACE PRESIDENT MEVLUT CAVUSOGLU IN THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
National Assembly
parliament.am
May 17 2010
Armenia
The two-day visit of PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu was summed up
by press conference on May 13.
PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu noted that his visit to Armenia was
amongst the priorities of his presidency of the PACE, and it was
important to start the dialogue with these member states which need
the most the support and assistance of the Council of Europe. Mr.
CavuÅ~_oglu said that he had already visited Azerbaijan, Moldova,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Armenia and he was planning to visit
Georgia at the beginning of June. PACE President expressed his
thanks to the Speaker of the National Assembly Mr Hovik Abrahamyan,
who addressed his best wishes to him on the very day of his election
as President. He also liked to stress the excellent cooperation that
they in the Assembly had with the Armenian delegation and its Chairman
Mr Davit Harutyunyan. Within the framework of his visit, Mevlut
CavuÅ~_oglu met with the President of the Republic, the NA Speaker,
most political forces represented in Parliament, the members of PACE
delegation, the Human Rights Defender, the members of the National
Commission for Radio and Television, the representatives of the NGOs,
the extra-parliamentary opposition and had a meeting with the parents
of the victims of the clashes, which occurred on 1-2 March 2008. PACE
President noted that joining the Council of Europe, Armenia committed
itself to strengthening and developing the fundamental principles and
values that unite our member states: democracy, human rights and the
rule of law. He stressed that the role of the Parliamentary Assembly
is to accompany this process, and the Assembly had been doing through
its monitoring procedure and through constant parliamentary dialogue.
For the Council of Europe, peace, stability and a thriving democracy
in each one of its member states are of fundamental importance,
which also applies to Armenia. Mevlut CavuÅ~_oglu said that the
Parliamentary Assembly was deeply concerned with the events that
followed the elections of 2008, noting that they had been doing
everything in their power ever since to assist the country to overcome
the crisis in public confidence and to move towards reconciliation and
constructive dialogue. The Monitoring Committee carefully examined the
recommendations of the NA Ad-hoc Committee, which was investigating
the events of 1-2 March 2008. It was noted that those conclusions and
recommendations, in combination with the Assembly recommendations,
could comprehensively address the circumstances that led to March
events. In the PACE President's opinion, it was important that
these recommendations were implemented in good faith and without
undue delay. Mr CavuÅ~_oglu said that t he Parliamentary Assembly
had called on the Armenian authorities to establish a roadmap for
the implementation of the recommended reforms. Some very encouraging
response by Mr Harutyunyan, as the Chairman of the NA Committee on
State and Legal Affairs had been received. The Committee would submit
a relevant report to the National Assembly, which would be a good
opportunity for the parliament to strengthen its vital function of
parliamentary control the monitoring of the implementation of these
recommendations. PACE President expressed hope that the executive
branch would also play its role in this process to the full. He
expected that the RA authorities would provide to the Assembly a
detailed list of all the reforms that need to be implemented along
the line of the parliamentary recommendations, as well as specific
deadlines. There are still two outstanding issues that have not
received a satisfactory solution. According to his assessment, in
the view of the Assembly, the issue of persons detained in relation
to the events of March 2008 is not fully resolved either. In this
respect, Mr CavuÅ~_oglu had raised with the authorities in particular
the case of Nikol Pashinian, too. PACE President said that over the
last two days, their discussions with all his Armenian interlocutors
had concentrated on the most important reforms that were needed in the
country: first, the electoral reform, and Mevlut CavuÅ~_oglu emphasized
that the next elections in the country in 2012 should be organized
up to the highest European standards. It was noted that the PACE
expected that a new version of the Electoral Code would be submitted
to the Council of Europe for expertise as soon as possible.The next
issue, according to PACE President, are the reforms of the police:
CavuÅ~_oglu considers as a positive step that the Armenian authorities
authorized the publication of the report of the European Committee
for the Prevention of Torture. According to him, it is needed now to
implement these reforms. As a next step CavuÅ~_oglu talked about the
reforms in the justice sector, stressing that the independence of
the judiciary is one of the key elements in restoring public trust
and strengthening the rule of law in the country. Referring to the
next issue, freedom of assemblies, meetings Mr CavuÅ~_oglu considered
sufficient the existing legislation. PACE President also talked about
the freedom of the media, noting that he had mostly been concerned with
the independence and pluralism in the TV sector. He expressed hope that
the public tender for broadcasting licences, which has to be organized
in July, will be a major step forward in this respect. Regarding
the role of the Assembly in preventing and overcoming conflicts,
the PACE President noted that it was the only organization where
all member states are included, except Belarus. "Therefore we are a
major forum for dialogue between states and between parliamentarians,
and dialogue is the first and most important step in building mutual
trust and understanding. We have been using to the full the potential
of parliamentary diplomacy, both in frozen and "hot" conflicts. I can
give as an example the dialogue that we have been trying to establish
between the Russian and Georgian delegation," he said.
Regarding the Nagorno Karabakh issue, Mr CavuÅ~_oglu noted that
the PACE had a very clear position which had been expressed in
several resolutions and in particular Resolution 1416 of 2005. In
this resolution, the Assembly makes some very clear demands and
recommendations to both sides of the conflict. So, on the one
hand, both Armenia and Azerbaijan have a duty to comply with these
recommendations. On the other hand, the Parliamentary Assembly has
the duty to monitor how its recommendations are implemented by member
states. As a part of this process, the Assembly asked its Bureau to
create an ad hoc sub-committee, which functioned until the death of
the Chairman, Lord Russell-Johnston, since then, there have been
no agreement as to the person who is the best suited to chair the
sub-committee as well as its precise format and mandate.
PACE President Mevlut CavuÅ~_oglu congratulated Armenia for hosting
this year's Forum for the Future of Democracy. He expressed hope
that he would be back to Yerevan, Armenia in October to take part in
the Forum.
Afterwards Mr CavuÅ~_oglu answered the journalists' questions.
National Assembly
parliament.am
May 17 2010
Armenia
The two-day visit of PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu was summed up
by press conference on May 13.
PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu noted that his visit to Armenia was
amongst the priorities of his presidency of the PACE, and it was
important to start the dialogue with these member states which need
the most the support and assistance of the Council of Europe. Mr.
CavuÅ~_oglu said that he had already visited Azerbaijan, Moldova,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Armenia and he was planning to visit
Georgia at the beginning of June. PACE President expressed his
thanks to the Speaker of the National Assembly Mr Hovik Abrahamyan,
who addressed his best wishes to him on the very day of his election
as President. He also liked to stress the excellent cooperation that
they in the Assembly had with the Armenian delegation and its Chairman
Mr Davit Harutyunyan. Within the framework of his visit, Mevlut
CavuÅ~_oglu met with the President of the Republic, the NA Speaker,
most political forces represented in Parliament, the members of PACE
delegation, the Human Rights Defender, the members of the National
Commission for Radio and Television, the representatives of the NGOs,
the extra-parliamentary opposition and had a meeting with the parents
of the victims of the clashes, which occurred on 1-2 March 2008. PACE
President noted that joining the Council of Europe, Armenia committed
itself to strengthening and developing the fundamental principles and
values that unite our member states: democracy, human rights and the
rule of law. He stressed that the role of the Parliamentary Assembly
is to accompany this process, and the Assembly had been doing through
its monitoring procedure and through constant parliamentary dialogue.
For the Council of Europe, peace, stability and a thriving democracy
in each one of its member states are of fundamental importance,
which also applies to Armenia. Mevlut CavuÅ~_oglu said that the
Parliamentary Assembly was deeply concerned with the events that
followed the elections of 2008, noting that they had been doing
everything in their power ever since to assist the country to overcome
the crisis in public confidence and to move towards reconciliation and
constructive dialogue. The Monitoring Committee carefully examined the
recommendations of the NA Ad-hoc Committee, which was investigating
the events of 1-2 March 2008. It was noted that those conclusions and
recommendations, in combination with the Assembly recommendations,
could comprehensively address the circumstances that led to March
events. In the PACE President's opinion, it was important that
these recommendations were implemented in good faith and without
undue delay. Mr CavuÅ~_oglu said that t he Parliamentary Assembly
had called on the Armenian authorities to establish a roadmap for
the implementation of the recommended reforms. Some very encouraging
response by Mr Harutyunyan, as the Chairman of the NA Committee on
State and Legal Affairs had been received. The Committee would submit
a relevant report to the National Assembly, which would be a good
opportunity for the parliament to strengthen its vital function of
parliamentary control the monitoring of the implementation of these
recommendations. PACE President expressed hope that the executive
branch would also play its role in this process to the full. He
expected that the RA authorities would provide to the Assembly a
detailed list of all the reforms that need to be implemented along
the line of the parliamentary recommendations, as well as specific
deadlines. There are still two outstanding issues that have not
received a satisfactory solution. According to his assessment, in
the view of the Assembly, the issue of persons detained in relation
to the events of March 2008 is not fully resolved either. In this
respect, Mr CavuÅ~_oglu had raised with the authorities in particular
the case of Nikol Pashinian, too. PACE President said that over the
last two days, their discussions with all his Armenian interlocutors
had concentrated on the most important reforms that were needed in the
country: first, the electoral reform, and Mevlut CavuÅ~_oglu emphasized
that the next elections in the country in 2012 should be organized
up to the highest European standards. It was noted that the PACE
expected that a new version of the Electoral Code would be submitted
to the Council of Europe for expertise as soon as possible.The next
issue, according to PACE President, are the reforms of the police:
CavuÅ~_oglu considers as a positive step that the Armenian authorities
authorized the publication of the report of the European Committee
for the Prevention of Torture. According to him, it is needed now to
implement these reforms. As a next step CavuÅ~_oglu talked about the
reforms in the justice sector, stressing that the independence of
the judiciary is one of the key elements in restoring public trust
and strengthening the rule of law in the country. Referring to the
next issue, freedom of assemblies, meetings Mr CavuÅ~_oglu considered
sufficient the existing legislation. PACE President also talked about
the freedom of the media, noting that he had mostly been concerned with
the independence and pluralism in the TV sector. He expressed hope that
the public tender for broadcasting licences, which has to be organized
in July, will be a major step forward in this respect. Regarding
the role of the Assembly in preventing and overcoming conflicts,
the PACE President noted that it was the only organization where
all member states are included, except Belarus. "Therefore we are a
major forum for dialogue between states and between parliamentarians,
and dialogue is the first and most important step in building mutual
trust and understanding. We have been using to the full the potential
of parliamentary diplomacy, both in frozen and "hot" conflicts. I can
give as an example the dialogue that we have been trying to establish
between the Russian and Georgian delegation," he said.
Regarding the Nagorno Karabakh issue, Mr CavuÅ~_oglu noted that
the PACE had a very clear position which had been expressed in
several resolutions and in particular Resolution 1416 of 2005. In
this resolution, the Assembly makes some very clear demands and
recommendations to both sides of the conflict. So, on the one
hand, both Armenia and Azerbaijan have a duty to comply with these
recommendations. On the other hand, the Parliamentary Assembly has
the duty to monitor how its recommendations are implemented by member
states. As a part of this process, the Assembly asked its Bureau to
create an ad hoc sub-committee, which functioned until the death of
the Chairman, Lord Russell-Johnston, since then, there have been
no agreement as to the person who is the best suited to chair the
sub-committee as well as its precise format and mandate.
PACE President Mevlut CavuÅ~_oglu congratulated Armenia for hosting
this year's Forum for the Future of Democracy. He expressed hope
that he would be back to Yerevan, Armenia in October to take part in
the Forum.
Afterwards Mr CavuÅ~_oglu answered the journalists' questions.