The real price and cost of the report of the caviar-eaters Agramunt and Ivinski is the Council of Europe’s question of reputation. N. Zohrabyan

06/20/2015

Speaking to Tert.am a member of the Armenian delegation to PACE Naira Zohrabyan said that the report on " the activity of the democratic institutions in Azerbaijan" written by the members of the Monitoring Committee Pedro Agramunt and Tadeusz Ivinski will be viewed not in the context of human rights and democratic freedoms in Azerbaijan, but in the context that the price and cost of all this is the Council of Europe’s question of reputation.

"If the Assembly does not do that and the report is adopted in this form, then I think that Armenia's authorities should seriously think about their future relations with the EU," she said.

“On June 22, the PACE plenary session kicks off and it is known that our delegation will face a serious challenge as the report on “ the activity of the democratic institutions in Azerbaijan" written by the members of the Monitoring Committee Pedro Agramunt and Tadeusz Ivinski will be discussed, where there are several anti-Armenian and hazardous formulations , the most dangerous of which is Walter’s still unwritten report titled "The escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan”. The Armenian delegation, as far as I know, will do its best to remove the paragraph from the report. What do you think will it work out or not, especially that recently the Armenian delegation has been accused for not working effectively”?

“ As to the people who accuse the Armenian delegation, I declare with full responsibility from the podium of Tert.am, that If there is anyone in the National Assembly who could work better than the current delegation works in the Council of Europe, which is fully captured by Azerbaijan, I am ready to give my place in the delegation by Prosperous Armenia "quota to the member who will work more effectively. I also declare with full responsibility that even if the head of our delegation is Bzhezinksi and each of us in the delegation is Charles De Gaulle, nothing can be changed in today’s PACE.

And therefore, being a realistic politician I have serious doubts about whether it is possible to remove the paragraph from the report though we will do our best. Of course, it is absurd to refer to the title of Walter’s report, which does not exist yet instead of speaking in the report on the obligations undertaken by Azerbaijan before the Council of Europe about more than 80 political prisoners in Azerbaijan, the two of which are simply dying , instead of speaking about the Azerbaijani Defense Minister who proclaims the ultimate goal the destruction of the Armenians during the meeting the with army officers, that is, the statements that directly contradict the PACE values.

A politician who won’t be elected again as a deputy in the UK and it is still a big question who he will be, the author of the report which doesn’t exist yet. So, I think their goal is that PACE adopts a resolution, it doesn’t matter on Azerbaijan or on Arctic Ocean where the “occupation” of the territories of Azerbaijan definition will be recorded. This is the perfect joke. Therefore, joining Martin Schulz’s statement that dictatorships have no place in Europe, my colleagues and I in our speeches in the context of the report written by Agramunt and Ivisnki won’t talk about Azerbaijan but we shall sound serious alarm that the Council of Europe as a human rights and basic democratic structure is collapsing. And we will try to mobilize all international organizations and the PACE rare deputies who do not get money form Aliev, because there is a clear information that more than 80 PACE members get monthly salary from Azerbaijan.

We should be able to mobilize these forces to save the Council of Europe. And the state of democracy in Azerbaijan is not going to be in the context of the speeches of the members of our delegation, because as long as Aliev’s clan is in power in Azerbaijan, it is impossible to change anything there, but the question of saving the democracy of the Council of Europe. If the Assembly does not do that and the report is adopted in this form, then I think that Armenia's authorities should seriously think about their future relations with the EU. I repeat that the real price and cost of the report of the caviar-eaters Agramunt and Ivinski is the Council of Europe’s question of reputation, which will become clear on Tuesday evening”.