Aghvan Vardanyan: PACE resolution is not binding for us (video)
The same caviar policy, the same petrodollars… Azerbaijan used the trick to make the PACE Monitoring Committee adopt a resolution on recognizing Armenia occupant which will be put to the vote during the summer session from 12 to 26 June. Tevan Poghosyan is not surprised and says there are people in the PACE who do not realize what they have done. “We must first of all explain everything [in details] to those PACE delegates who do not understand how matters stand,” he said. Aghvan Vardanyan from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation –Dashnaktsutyun paid special attention to the title of the resolution. Two years ago, we thwarted another draft resolution with the same title, he says. “That document was initiated by [Mevlüt] Çavuşoğlu the former chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly,” he says. “Yes, the Azerbaijani lobby group works efficiently in the PACE, and Armenia is powerless against them. But the resolution is not binding for us and is not worth a penny,” says Mr Vardanyan. How is Armenia going to respond to Azerbaijan’s policy of caviar and petrodollars? “Armenia is such a strong country with its Diaspora, intelligentsia and reputation that Azerbaijan’s petrodollars cannot prevent us from having our honored place in the world,” said Vahan Babayan from the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK). Mr Babayan blames the Armenian delegates to the PACE who have been unable to stop Azerbaijan from doing its dirty work in the PACE. The three members of the Armenian delegation represent the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and the delegation is led by Republican Hermine Naghdalyan. “We do not complain of Hermine Naghdalyan. She is simply performing her duties,” he said.
