Caviar, expensive carpets and jewelry: New ESI report shed lights on Azerbaijani regime’s corrupt schemes

December 19, 2016 By administrator

The European Stability Initiative (ESI) has published a new report on Azerbaijan revealing new facts about the autocratic regime’s corrupt practices in international politics.

The second Caviar Diplomacy report, entitled The European Swamp, takes a closer look into the continuing efforts towards buying high-ranking European officials.

The first report, which was published in 2012, was widely covered by the international media, receiving what the authors called a disappointing official reaction coupled with indifference.
This time, the authors have focused on the Azerbaijani delegates to the PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe), especially Ehan Suleymanov, a chief lobbyist who was behind the corrupt schemes in Brussels.

The 20-page report provides a detailed description as to how the corruption of MPs proceeded “from early visits with precious gifts meant to test the beneficiaries’ reactions, to long-term contracts involving huge sums of money.”

The full document can be accessed here

Alan Meale of PACE Monitoring: Everyone must condemn the atrocities committed by Turks against Armenians

November 24, 2016 By administrator

alan-meale Everyone must condemn the atrocities and the Genocide committed by the Turks against the Armenians. The Governments must recognize what has actually happened. PACE Monitoring Committee Co-Rapporteur for Armenia Alan Meale has made such a statement. “People must be informed, schools must teach about the Genocide and everything must be done to prevent such kind of tragedies,” he has noted.

Alan Meale, together with other Co-Rapporteur for Armenia Giuseppe Galati, have paid a visit to Tsitsernakaberd Memorial accompanied by Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Head of the Armenian delegation to PACE Hermine Naghdalyan. The European high ranking officials have laid flowers at the Eternal Flame paying tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims with a moment of silence. As the NA Public Relations Department reports, PACE Monitoring Committee Co-Rapporteurs for Armenia also visited the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute and got acquainted with the documents on the Genocide.

Source: http://en.aravot.am/2016/11/23/184251/

PACE continues expressing criticism against Turkey: Authorities terrorizing people

October 13, 2016 By administrator

By Aida Hovhannisyan from Strasbourg

STRASBOURG. – The situation in Turkey after a failed coup attempt was discussed at PACE’s autumn plenary session on Thursday.

The EU deputies emphasized that Turkey cannot be a democratic country unless the country works on democracy. The delegates urged to adhere to the rule of law and democratic principles.

French delegate Jean-Claude Mignon was very glad that they, including Turkish colleagues, have gathered to discuss the situation in Turkey after the July 16 failed coup attempt. He said that as politicians, they should exclude repressions.

The speakers also expressed concern in relations to the fact that some hours later after coup attempt in Turkey detentions of citizens began because of suspicions of their commitment to the ideology of Gulen. The politicians were surprised to see how Turkish authorities determined who was responsible for the event during such a short period of time.

Michael Jensen said that it was unacceptable that media outlets were being closed, judges were arrested, innocent citizens were detained because of their opposition to the government. Some days ago Cavusoglu spoke about the death penalty, but this should not be allowed, he said.

Representative of the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party Hisyar Ozsoy gave more details on lack of democracy in Turkey. He noted that after July 16 Turkish authorities closed Kurdish TV companies, including children’s and music programs, and all this was made without any explanations. He emphasized that Turkish authorities were terrorizing people under the pretext of masterminding a coup attempt.

It should be added that a coup attempt occurred in Turkey on July 16, 2016, as a result of which 246 people were killed. After that over 40,000 citizens were detained, 20,000 were arrested and 79,000 were fired. Turkish authorities accuse Fethullah Gülen of organizing a coup attempt.

According to many experts, a coup attempt has been initiated by Turkish President Erdogan to unleash mass repression in the country.

PACE ignoring all principles in Karabakh settlement, says OSCE mission chief

January 27, 2016 By administrator

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has adopted a new policy line to ignore all the principles – including those proposed by the OSCE – to promote a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan has said.
Ambassador Andrey Sorokin made the statement at a news conference on Wednesday as he addressed the Assembly’s Tuesday plenary session which approved the controversial report on Nagorno-Karabakh’s Sarsang reservoir.
“Yes, they were considering two very unpleasant tough [draft] resolutions, both being anti-Armenian. And they managed to exclude one from the agenda, which is already victory. Unfortunately, they didn’t succeed in doing the same with the Sarsang [reservoir report].,” the diplomat noted.
The diplomat reaffirmed the OSCE’s commitment to actively support the peace process.

German Ambassador to Armenia Bernhard Matthias Kiesler, whose country recently took over the organization’s presidency, refrained from any comments.
Describing the voting as a matter of concern for parliamentarians, the diplomat said he knows that the latter differ in their opinions with executive authorities. He expressed his country’s support to the Minsk Group mission as the only format authorized to mediate a solution to the land dispute.
The ambassador added that despite the current crisis in Europe, his country is committed to contribute to a dialogue and confidence-building between the conflicting sides.

One Turkey MP abstains from voting on PACE anti-Armenian report

January 27, 2016 By administrator

ani-armenin pace The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) MPs on Tuesday voted on MP Robert Walter’s (UK) anti-Armenian report entitled “Escalation of Violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and Other Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan,” during the ongoing PACE Winter Session in Strasbourg, France.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy İlhan Kesici was the sole Turkish delegation member to abstain from voting on this report.

This information is provided in the PACE official website.

The PACE rejected this anti-Armenian report by a vote of 66 for, 70 against, and 45 abstentions.

Kurdish members of the Turkish delegation to PACE did not participate in the voting.

But PACE adopted MP Milica Marković’s (Bosnia and Herzegovina) anti-Armenian report about Sarsang Reservoir in Nagorno-Karabakh, and entitled “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water.”

To note, representatives of the PACE Unified European Left Group, the Socialist Group, and the European People’s Party voted against both anti-Armenian reports.

PACE adopts Turkish Bosnia MP’s anti-Armenian report “Turks are full control of PACE”

January 26, 2016 By administrator

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Tuesday voted on PACE MP Milica Marković’s (Bosnia and Herzegovina) anti-Armenian report about Sarsang Reservoir in Nagorno-Karabakh, and entitled “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water.”

The respective draft resolution was adopted by a vote of 98 for, 71 against, and 40 abstentions.

As reported earlier, however, the PACE MPs rejected MP Robert Walter’s (UK) anti-Armenian report entitled “Escalation of Violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and Other Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan.”

To note, representatives of the Unified European Left Group, the Socialist Group, and the European People’s Party voted against both anti-Armenian reports.

UPPER KARABAKH The members of the Minsk Group warns PACE

January 25, 2016 By administrator

arton121332-480x270 The US diplomats, Russian and French Minsk Group have again warned on Friday the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) it does not undermine their efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by adopting pro-Azerbaijani resolutions this week in Strasbourg.

In a joint statement, James Warlick, Igor Popov and Pierre Andrieu stressed that the co-leaders of the Minsk Group of the OSCE “remained the only legitimate interlocutors for negotiations.”

“We appreciate the interest of members of PACE, but urge that measures are not taken, as they could compromise the mandate of the Minsk Group and complicate the negotiations”, they kept insisting.

Two draft resolutions on Karabakh were approved by the Standing Committees of the PACE in November. One of them was developed by Robert Walter, a pro-British parliamentary Azerbaijan. It requires the Karabakh “return to Azerbaijan” and said that the three mediating powers should “consider reviewing” their peace efforts accordingly.

The other paper by MP Milica Markovic Bosnian accuses Armenia of “deliberately deprive” Azerbaijani farmers water that flows from the reservoir Sarsang in northern Karabakh. It also calls for “the immediate withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the region.”

Armenia and Karabakh strongly rejected the proposed resolutions, accusing their authors to have close ties with the Azerbaijani government, thus calling into doubt their impartiality. Criticism has been particularly sharp against Walter, who would have received Turkish citizenship and would have moved to Turkey last year.

The co-chairs of the Minsk Group have also criticized the resolution and Walter warned that PACE had to not “disturb the negotiation process and hinders progress towards a settlement,” in a statement in November.

However, Azerbaijan welcomed the proposed text. He also lambasted the US mediators, Russian and French, explaining that their long peace efforts have produced “no results.”

Monday, January 25, 2016,
Claire © armenews.com

Protest in front of UK embassy in Yerevan (PACE & Azerbaijan caviar corruption)

January 25, 2016 By administrator

A number of young people held a protest in front of the Embassy of the United Kingdom in Armenia.

They protested against two anti-Armenian reports on the agenda of the January session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

They handed a letter of demand to the vice-ambassador.

Young members of the For Law organization offered two glass jars of caviar as a symbolic bribe to the vice-ambassador thus alluding to Azerbaijan caviar diplomacy at PACE.

Activist Arman Ghukasyan told Tert.am that the reports on the agenda of the PACE session pose threat to the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

“We are well aware of the reasons for the biased reports. We have numerous precedents, particularly in 2003-2004, when Azerbaijan was able to bribe PACE members, and we have decided to express our indignation, hand over our letter of demand and offer a symbolic bribe – two glass jars of red and black caviar. If British officials love caviar very much, we have brought caviar for them to reject the reports,” she said.

The report entitled “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water” by PACE Rapporteur Milica Markovic, as well as the one entitled “Escalation of Violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and Other Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan” by Robert Walter, is on the agenda of the PACE session this January. The anti-Armenian resolutions are to be put to the vote on January 26.

Tsovinar Kostanyan, another member of the NGO, said she evaluates the reports as “encroachment upon the Armenian nation and statehood and the native lands.”

“We now have a generation which will never allow such a disgraceful encroachment. We are ready to defend our motherland, and its interests.”

The activists were at the protests site with banners bearing English slogans.

At the end, they agreed with the deputy ambassador to have a meeting with him in his office to in case the reports receive approval.

Constitutional referendum: PACE delegation regrets that Armenian authorities were not more concerned by integrity

December 7, 2015 By administrator

The delegation of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly has published a report addressing the monitoring and the outcomes of the December 6 constitutional referendum in Armenia.
The full text of the document, published on the organization’s website, is presented below:

A cross-party delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) was present in Armenia from 4 to 7 December 2015 to observe the referendum on constitutional reforms which took place on 6 December and led to a new constitution.

After a somewhat low-key campaign with little public debate and a calm referendum day, according to preliminary results, around 64% of those who voted did so in favour of the changes, thus meeting the quorum of 25% of the registered voters needed to approve the changes.

The relatively low turn-out, around 50% of the population, reflects the fact that the referendum was driven by political interests instead of the needs of the Armenian public and was perceived by many citizens as a vote of confidence in the government rather than on the many proposals for change. The two-and-a-half-year reform process was not inclusive enough, the parliament having only a few weeks to discuss the text and public debate being limited to two months, making it difficult for an agreement to be reached. Thus, the core of the constitutional change – the shift from a presidential to a parliamentary system – was understood by too many citizens as being a means for the current president to remain in power after the end of his second (and what would have been final) term.

Concerning the voting process, the delegation regrets that the authorities were not more concerned by the integrity of the process leading to a new constitution and that it must mention several problems, many of them already mentioned in previous PACE, Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR recommendations:

• the inaccuracy of the voting lists containing the names of many people residing permanently abroad or even deceased, leading to claims that these identities were usurped by people who then voted several times;

• allegations of large-scale organized vote buying and carousel voting as well as pressure on voters;

• the media playing field was once again not a level one and the political parties were not able to fulfil their duties of informing and motivating the public;

• the misuse of administrative resources by executive bodies;

• allegations of pressure on, and attempts to corrupt, election officials;

• shortcomings in the training of precinct election officials, particularly during counting;

• the lack of mobile voting effectively excluded disabled citizens from the process.

The delegation urges the authorities to address these issues in order to build trust in the voting process and in politics in general to ensure a genuinely democratic future for Armenia.

While in Armenia, the delegation met leaders and representatives of parliamentary groups and parties, the Chairperson of the CEC, representatives of civil society and the media as well as OSCE/ODIHR experts.

Members of the delegation:
Andreas Gross (Switzerland, SOC), head of delegation
Doris Fiala (Switzerland, ALDE)
Alan Meale (United Kingdom, SOC), rapporteur of the Monitoring Committee

Karabakh: The representatives of the USA, France and Russia taclent PACE

November 13, 2015 By administrator

(RFE/RL) The mediators representing the United States, Russia and France on Thursday urged the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) not to “disturb” the peace process of Nagorno-Karabakh in a common response to a pro-Azerbaijani draft resolution approved by a key committee of the PACE.

The resolution requires the Armenian withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh and the return of the territory under the rule of Azerbaijan and stated that the three mediating powers should “consider reviewing” their peace efforts in this direction. It also calls on the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, to implement an “action plan” on Karabakh settlement reflecting these conclusions.

James Warlick, US Co-Chair of the Minsk Group, criticized the document immediately after it has been approved by the Political Affairs Committee of PACE last week. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov echoed this criticism while conducting a visit to Yerevan on Monday.

Warlick and colleagues from the Minsk Group co-chairs from Russia and France – Igor Popov and Pierre Andrieu – commented on the initiative of PACE in a special joint statement issued in Vienna. “We share the concerns expressed by the resolution concerning the increase in tensions along the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan and along the line of contact … We agree on the fact that the conflict has lasted too long, “they say.

The mediators stressed, however, that they were “neither judges nor advocates of particular positions. “” There are proposals to create new trading formats and working groups on the conflict settlement, “they said. “We believe it is in the framework of the Minsk Group mediating a unique experience. The Minsk Group format is accepted by the parties and has the full confidence of all participating States of the OSCE. “

“Given the sensitive nature of the negotiations, all attempts to change the format or create parallel mechanisms can disrupt the negotiation process and impede progress towards a settlement,” warned Warlick, Popov and Andrieu.

The peace proposals made by the three mediating powers in the last decade on the Karabakh settlement differ markedly from the resolution recommended by the PACE. Their basic principles call, among other things, an internationally recognized referendum in which Karabakh’s predominantly Armenian population of the disputed territory would apparently be able to reaffirm its de facto secession from Azerbaijan.

PACE will discuss the controversial resolution at its next plenary session in Strasbourg in January. The three-page text was written by Robert Walter, a former British pro-Azerbaijani parliamentarian.

Armenia rejected the Walter report submitted to PACE members, accusing him of working for the Azerbaijani government. The Armenian authorities have refused to cooperate with Walter before he writes his text.

However, Azerbaijan welcomed the draft resolution. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baku has criticized the United States, Russia and the French mediator last week on the grounds that their long peace efforts have produced “no result”.