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ARMENIA'S UPCOMING CHAIRMAN ROLE IN COUNCIL OF EUROPE PROMPTS CONCERNS FROM AZERBAIJAN
Sacramento Bee, CA
April 23 2013
By Azerbaijan Monitor
Published: Tuesday, Apr. 23, 2013 - 3:08 am
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 23, 2013 -- /PRNewswire/ --
Azerbaijan has challenged the decision to hand the chairmanship of
the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to neighbouring
Armenia, despite that nation's continued occupation of Azerbaijani
territory that has displaced and violated basic rights of about one
million of its citizens.
Armenia will assume the six-month chair from July, prompting
Azerbaijani delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe (PACE), Elkhan Suleymanov, to question the move in a letter
to PACE, which he has since made public.
"How do you assess the chairmanship of the state, which keeps under
military occupation the territories of the other member state?" he
asked in the letter.
He also noted that Armenia has been handed the chair despite the fact
it involves one Council of Europe member state occupying the land of
another for 25 years after the invasion and in defiance of resolutions
from the United Nations, the European Parliament and even PACE itself.
Suleymanov also raised the issue of this year's presidential election
in Armenia that returned to power Serzh Sargsyan, a former military
commander linked to the massacre of civilians in the town of Khojaly,
Azerbaijan, on 26th February of 1992.
The PACE observer team to that election, led by Norwegian politician
Ms Karin Woldseth, decreed the poll to be fair despite noting in
its report the military occupation of Azerbaijani territories. This,
said Suleymanov in his letter, contradicts all notions of "democracy,
freedom of speech and the rule of law."
In response to Woldseth's report, Suleymanov has submitted a counter
motion with the support of 24 MPs' from five countries declaring the
Armenian presidential elections to be undemocratic.
Controversy over this issue erupted last month when Suleymanov was
heckled and then barred from speaking while addressing a PACE session
in Paris in the aftermath of the Armenian presidential election.
PACE's Monitoring Committee Chairman Andres Herkel later admitted
cutting off Suleymanov but said it was due to time management issues,
a claim rejected by the Azerbaijani delegation.
Following that incident Suleymanov said his complaints were largely
ignored. This time, he hopes to establish a fresh dialogue with his
PACE colleagues ahead of Armenia's Committee of Ministers chairmanship
in July.
SOURCE Azerbaijan Monitor
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/04/23/5363639/armenias-upcoming-chairman-role.html
Sacramento Bee, CA
April 23 2013
By Azerbaijan Monitor
Published: Tuesday, Apr. 23, 2013 - 3:08 am
BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 23, 2013 -- /PRNewswire/ --
Azerbaijan has challenged the decision to hand the chairmanship of
the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to neighbouring
Armenia, despite that nation's continued occupation of Azerbaijani
territory that has displaced and violated basic rights of about one
million of its citizens.
Armenia will assume the six-month chair from July, prompting
Azerbaijani delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe (PACE), Elkhan Suleymanov, to question the move in a letter
to PACE, which he has since made public.
"How do you assess the chairmanship of the state, which keeps under
military occupation the territories of the other member state?" he
asked in the letter.
He also noted that Armenia has been handed the chair despite the fact
it involves one Council of Europe member state occupying the land of
another for 25 years after the invasion and in defiance of resolutions
from the United Nations, the European Parliament and even PACE itself.
Suleymanov also raised the issue of this year's presidential election
in Armenia that returned to power Serzh Sargsyan, a former military
commander linked to the massacre of civilians in the town of Khojaly,
Azerbaijan, on 26th February of 1992.
The PACE observer team to that election, led by Norwegian politician
Ms Karin Woldseth, decreed the poll to be fair despite noting in
its report the military occupation of Azerbaijani territories. This,
said Suleymanov in his letter, contradicts all notions of "democracy,
freedom of speech and the rule of law."
In response to Woldseth's report, Suleymanov has submitted a counter
motion with the support of 24 MPs' from five countries declaring the
Armenian presidential elections to be undemocratic.
Controversy over this issue erupted last month when Suleymanov was
heckled and then barred from speaking while addressing a PACE session
in Paris in the aftermath of the Armenian presidential election.
PACE's Monitoring Committee Chairman Andres Herkel later admitted
cutting off Suleymanov but said it was due to time management issues,
a claim rejected by the Azerbaijani delegation.
Following that incident Suleymanov said his complaints were largely
ignored. This time, he hopes to establish a fresh dialogue with his
PACE colleagues ahead of Armenia's Committee of Ministers chairmanship
in July.
SOURCE Azerbaijan Monitor
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/04/23/5363639/armenias-upcoming-chairman-role.html