We draw the attention of the leadership of the RA National Assembly to the interview of the newly-elected President of the PACE Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu given to the Azerbaijani APA press agency on January 26 of this year in which the newly-elected President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe made biased comment s regarding the Nagorno Karabakh problem. Some comments o n “the reality” by the PACE President put under question his impartiality in the perception of the Nagorno Karabakh problem. The PACE President does not perceive quite well the nature and elements of the conflict, as well as the negotiation process going on around the latter. He evidently prefers to ignore the fact that the peaceful settlement is based on striving for several principles including the right for self-determination. Apparently , the President indifferently refers to the issues concerning the security of the Nagorno Karabakh people, who are consistently endangered by the Azerbaijani authorities, with their recent practices of hatred and  xenophobia towards Armenians.

Moreover, we regret that based on Turkey’s position in relation to the problem and stressing that, “this conflict seems to be a hindrance to the normalization process of relations between Turkey and Armenia,” the President seriously questions the prestige of his tenure from the view of having any positive role in the solution of the regional problems.

This interview once again confirms that pursuing negotiations is the competence only of a mandat ed body, which in this case lies with the OSCE and the latter’s Minsk Group Co-Chair manship , and any irresponsible undertaking out of this format only makes the negotiation process of the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict more complicated and damages it .

Taking into account the above-mentioned, the coalition factions of the National Assembly Republican Party of Armenia, Prosperous Armenia and Country of Law urge the Speaker of the National Assembly to seek clarif ications from the PACE President on the authenticity of the interview, to demand explanations from Mr. Çavuşoğlu   if his statement s can be considered as the PACE official position and, if necessary, seriously discuss the issue of freezing Armenia’s participation in the PACE works during the tenure of Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu ’s presidency.

RPA faction of RA National Assembly
Prosperous Armenia faction of RA National Assembly
Country of Law faction of RA National Assembly