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On April 13 the Chairman of the RA NA Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Artak Zakaryan met with the PACE President Anne Brasseur.

Welcoming the guest, Artak Zakaryan has expressed conviction that the PACE President’s visit to Armenia is very important and cognitive and will give a big opportunity to Ms Brasseur for having political and public picture. The Committee Chairman has highlighted the role of the PACE in the establishment of democratic processes in Armenia for all times.

Touching upon the most important problems Artak Zakaryan has noted that the most sensible issues for the Armenian people and the Armenian parliament have been and remain the peaceful settlement of the NKR problem and the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The Committee Chairman has talked about the report with inadmissible and incorrect title “Escalation of Violence in Nagorno Karabakh and in Other Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan” being on the agenda of the Assembly, noting that there is no such a notion of "Azerbaijan’s occupied territory" and it has not ever been: there is the NKR people who want to live free and peaceful possessing their destiny. “Such resolutions can strongly damage the peaceful settlement of the NK problem, hence we expect the balanced and rational approach of the PACE in this issue,” the Committee Chairman said. According to Artak Zakaryan, to be more realistic in their actions it will be desirable if the PACE deputies personally go to the NKR and get acquainted with the actual situation, and they will not yield to the Azerbaijani false and anti-Armenian information.

Touching upon the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Artak Zakaryan has noted that its recognition and condemnation is not only the problem of the Armenian people, but the whole mankind and should be perceived as the most important component of the European and all-human values.

Artak Zakaryan also talked about the Armenian-Turkish relations, the close borders with Turkey and the anti-Armenian propaganda of Azerbaijan.

The PACE President in her turn has highlighted the peaceful developments in the region and has assured that the PACE should not perform biased actions: it should listen to the sides’ opinions and show balanced approach towards the problems.

At the meeting the issues of human rights, the development of democracy, as well as the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations were highlighted.