RAFFI HOVANISSIAN ATTENDS PACE SESSION

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An urgent debate on the consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia will be the main focus of the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), to be held in Strasbourg at 11.30 (local time), on 29 September. The debate will be in two parts: it starts on the morning of Tuesday 30 September and resumes on the morning of Thursday 2 October. As part of the run-up to the debate, an ad hoc committee will conduct a fact-finding visit to Georgia and Russia from 22 to 25 September.

“Both Georgia and Russia could have done more to prevent the war between them,” said the head of a PACE delegation Luc van den Brande (Belgium, EPP/CD) after visiting the two countries ahead of an urgent debate on the consequences of the war next week in Strasbourg. Speaking at a press conference in Tbilisi at the end of the second part of the visit (24-25 September), Luc van den Brande said that it was important to understand events leading up to the outbreak of war: "This conflict didn't start on 7 August," he pointed out.

Another highlight of the session will be the debate on the situation in Cyprus, on Wednesday 1 October. Demetris Christofias, President of the Republic of Cyprus, will address the Assembly on Tuesday 30 September, the day before the debate, and Mehmet Ali Talat, Leader of the Turkish Cypriot Community, will do so on 1 October.

The Armenian delegation is comprised of David Harutiunian, Armen Rustamian, Ishkhan Khachatrian, Avet Adonts and Raffi Hovanissian.

Reminder: Raffi Hovhannissian blamed the PACE for applying double standards in June and said he was going to withdraw from the structure.

Karine Asatryan

Strasbourg