Azerbaijani delegation to PACE like worm-eaten apple – Shavarsh Kocharyan

November 5, 2015 By administrator

Armenian Deputy FM Shavarsh Kocharyan, in response to MP Tevan Poghosyan’s question as to whether funds have been allocated to oppose the two anti-Armenian reports at the parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), said that rapporteur Robert Walter’s conduct is not a new thing.

In 2013, he was head of the monitoring group at elections in Azerbaijan and called the elections excellent, whereas a different statement on the elections was made.

“The Azerbaijani delegation is like a worm-eaten apple fallen there and infecting other apples. And this PACE’s gravest problem,” Mr Kocharyan said.

PACE rapporteur visits Karabakh frontline

September 17, 2015 By administrator

A European parliamentarian who authored a controversial report on Nagorno-Karabakh earlier this year has visited the Line of Contact, APA News Agency reports.
Robert Walter, a rapporteur at the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly’s (PACEE) Democracy and Political Affairs Committee, headed to the frontline from Azerbaijan where he had earlier had a meeting with Minister of Defense Zakir Hasanov.
Representatives of the Ministry accompanied the rapporteur as he flied there in a helicopter.
Walter is reported to have visited several regions to meet with servicemen and the population.
After the monitoring, he returned to Baku.

PACE delegates want to visit Armenia on April 24

February 2, 2015 By administrator

YEREVAN. – The delegates of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) have expressed willingness to visit Armenia on April 24, member of the Armenian delegation to PACE Hermine Naghdalyan said.

However, it must be taken into account that the next plenary session is planned for the days when Armenians mark centennial of the Armenian Genocide, namely on April 20-25, she added.

“Nevertheless, many of our European colleagues said they want to visit Armenia several days earlier or even later to honor memory of the innocent victims of Armenian Genocide,” Naghdalyan added.

PACE: draft report criticizes Turkey’s media environment, citing Dink assassination and Gezi Park

January 23, 2015 By administrator

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) published a draft report, on Jan. 12 focusing on the deteriorating situation of journalists, independent media and freedom of speech in Turkey, among other countries; specifically citing in Turkey’s case the Hrant Dink investigation and the Gezi Park protests.

The draft report titled “Protection of media freedom in Europe” calls on Turkey to fully investigate the violent death of journalist Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist who was shot by 17-year-old Ogün Samast, on Jan. 19, 2007, in front of the Agos newspaper’s office, where he served as editor-in-chief.

The draft report states: “He [Dink] had received numerous death threats from nationalist Turks. Several people, including the young gunman who carried out the killing, were convicted in connection with the murder; but public officials, including members of the security forces, [who were] suspected of complicity or trying to impede the investigation, have escaped without punishment.”

Maintaining that “journalists in Turkey still face threats to their safety and professional independence from overly restrictive laws, [and] hundreds of questionable criminal investigations,” the draft report also cites “improper government interference with the work of the media, and intolerance of criticism on the part of the government” as the reasons for Turkey’s worsening media environment.

The report also underlines that “independent media monitoring organization Bianet reported that police assaulted at least 105 journalists while they were covering the events of the Gezi Park protests,” protests which erupted in May 2013 over government plans to destroy a park located in the Taksim district of İstanbul and build Ottoman-style military barracks in its place. “Police also detained 28 journalists, some of whom were held overnight and questioned,” states the draft.

According to the draft, “the assembly welcomes the considerable reduction in the number of journalists detained in Turkey but regrets the number of journalists who are still [being] prosecuted or detained.” The report states that although many journalists have been released from pre-trial detention because of judicial reforms, more than 20 journalists are still in prison in Turkey at the time of the writing of the report.

The most recent of these operations against independent media happened on Dec. 14, when police operations were carried out at the buildings of Turkey’s best-selling daily Zaman and the Samanyolu Broadcasting Group, both headquartered in İstanbul. Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı as well as Samanyolu TV chief executive Hidayet Karaca, along with dozens of journalists, scriptwriters and police officers, were detained during the operations. Karaca was charged with heading a terrorist group based on a TV series that was broadcast years ago on the Samanyolu TV station and was later imprisoned pending trial.

Although the report in its current form fails to mention the Dec. 14 police operation, the largest against independent media in the history of the country, the finalized version is still to be published and the events of Dec. 14 are expected to be added via amendments.

Azerbaijan can no longer cover up its antidemocratic situation with “caviar” politics – Armenia delegate to PACE

June 26, 2014 By administrator

June 26, 2014 | 00:04

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s hysterical reaction at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) session was natural, since he did not have a clear answer to the European MP’s query as to why journalists and bloggers are deprived of their liberty in Azerbaijan.

Non-pro-government Prosperous Armenia Party National Assembly Faction Secretary Naira Zohrabyan, who is also a member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, told the aforementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“It was apparent that this PACE session would be held with accusations against Azerbaijan, and I had noted that, after Russia, the international organizations will seriously deal with Azerbaijan,” she added.

As per Zohrabyan, it is obvious that Azerbaijan will no longer be able to cover up this antidemocratic situation with “caviar” politics. Consequently, the mood at the PACE session was anti-Azerbaijani.

“I believe it is understandable that the Armenian delegation’s decision was very accurate to discuss the questions with the European colleagues and to pose the questions to Aliyev and [Azerbaijani FM Elmar] Mammadyarov with their help,” Naira Zohrabyan specifically noted.

Aliyev Calls PACE Delegates ‘Liars’

June 25, 2014 By administrator

Azerbaijani activists protest against Aliyev at the PACE meeting hall

STRASBOURG–Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev found himself in a pickle on Tuesday, when before and after his speech at the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe, he was dogged by questions from PACE leadership and delegates about Azerbaijan’s abysmal human rights record and rampant violations of press and speech freedoms in his country.

Aliyev chose his tried and true approach: lashing out at his critics and calling them “liars.”

The day began with Azerbaijanis living in Europe staged a protest at the PACE meeting hall. Having covered their mouths with black tape, the group was protesting Aliyev’s continued insisting that his government was protecting the rights of its citizens; that there were no political prisoners in Azerbaijan; and that there was freedom of speech and expression in his country. “All fundamental freedoms are respected in Azerbaijan,” said the Azerbaijani leader.

Aside from the protesters, Aliyev was confronted by PACE President Anne Brasseur who said that no matter how much a country develops economically, it can never be successful if democratic norms and principles are not respected.

The PACE president stressed that while Azerbaijan was a signatory to some 57 conventions since becoming a member of the Council of Europe, it has failed to implement specific provisions dealing with human rights, guaranteeing freedom of speech, press and assembly.

During the question and answer session following Aliyev’s remarks, PACE deputy from Ireland, Michael McNamara brought up the issue of 39 political prisoners in Azerbaijan and stressed that the recent presidential elections were fraudulent.

An angry Aliyev shot back by asserting that there were no political prisoners in his country.

“If you are making such statements,” Aliyev said, “that’s your biased approach toward our country. You have tried to insult our country on several occasions. Azerbaijan will not fall victim to such provocations.”

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev exchanged verbal punches with deputies at today’s PACE plenary session in Strasbourg who raised concerns about human rights violations in Azerbaijan.

PACE deputy from the UK, Paul Flynn, was also not spared Aliyev’s wrath. When Flynn questioned the Azerbaijani leader about state attacks against journalists in Azerbaijan, Aliyev angrily retorted: “You are lying.”

Aliyev and Karabakh
A presentation by Aliyev at an international arena would not be complete without a discussion of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the Azerbaijani leader’s continued insistence that the current republic of Armenia was actually part of historic Azerbaijan and that Yerevan was granted to the Armenians in the early 20th Century.

He went on to assert that Armenia had not complied with several international agreements–an ironic statement on Aliyev’s part since he was earlier chided by the PACE president for having ignored critical conventions of the Council of Europe, of which, incidentally, Azerbaijan currently holds the chairmanship.

Prior to the beginning of the PACE session, the Azerbaijani delegation aimed to disqualify the Armenain delegation by proposing a resolution, which claimed that Armenians were aggressors in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. That motion was not even brought to the floor for a vote.

Anne Brasseur: PACE ready to continue work with Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians

June 24, 2014 By administrator

June 24, 2014 | 14:26

It is necessary to step up diplomatic efforts into finding settlement of Karabakh conflict, PACE president Anne Brasseur said during the summer session on Tuesday.

“The Assembly stands ready to assist the peace process within the framework of OSCE Minsk Group,” she said ahead of the speech by president of Azerbaijan.

Anne Brasseur reiterated Assembly’s readiness to continue working with parliamentarians from Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations to build an atmosphere of dialogue and trust.

PACE President stressed that the Assembly respects sovereignty and territorial integrity of the states.

PACE resolution condemns Azeri axe-killer Safarov release

May 28, 2014 By administrator

May 28, 2014 – 15:41 AMT

PACE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights’s condemned the use of Article 12 of the European Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons by Azerbaijan in the case of axe murderer Ramil Safarov, “as a violation of the principles of good faith in international relations and of the rule of law”, the COE official website reported.

The Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons provides for the transfer of foreign prisoners to their home countries. Its purpose is primarily humanitarian, to improve prospects of rehabilitation and reintegration of prison inmates into society.

The draft resolution adopted, based on the report by Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG), notes with concern that the Convention was invoked in order to justify the immediate release upon transfer to Azerbaijan of Ramil Safarov, an Azerbaijani soldier convicted for murdering a fellow Armenian participant of a NATO “Partnership for Peace” training course in Hungary. Upon his arrival in Azerbaijan, he was welcomed as a national hero, granted an immediate pardon, long before the expiry of the minimum sentence set by the Hungarian court, a retroactive promotion as well as other rewards.

The text underlines that the Convention “is not designed to be used for the immediate release of prisoners upon return to their own country”. It underscores the importance of “applying the Convention in good faith and, in interpreting its provisions, adhering to the principles of the rule of law”, in particular in transfer cases that might entail political or diplomatic implications.

The draft resolution should be presented for debate to the Assembly later in 2014.

Assembly.coe.int: Committee condemns the use of a European Convention by Azerbaijan in the Safarov case

Armenian MP calls on PACE to denounce Turkey

April 8, 2014 By administrator

Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) parliamentary group member Arpine Hovhannisyan addressed the events in Syria’s Kessab in her speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Addressing the major issue, Ms Hovhannisyan dwelt on Turkey’s role in the events. She mentioned the concept of “state sponsors of terrorism” created by US partners. This expression describes Turkey’s nature very well. Turkey is nearing the date marking the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. The Kessab Armenians narrowly escaped genocide.

Surely, Turkey pursued other goals as well. To achieve them, Turkey turned to terrorists and even supported them. The recently leaked records of meetings of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization have proved that the country’s security services planned an attack on the Tomb of Suleyman Shah for Turkey to intervene militarily inside Syria. Like in the aforementioned case, Turkey intended to seek support of extremist networks.

As to what PACE should do to protect European values, Ms Hovhannisyan asked PACE if it is ready to call one of its members to account. European must stop pretending that nothing has ever happened.

The Armenian MP called for denouncing and preventing such actions with a view to ensuring an age when crimes against humanity will never be committed.