"The PACE humiliated itself"
"The PACE humiliated itself with such an overtly biased working style," David Harutyunyan announced at the National Assembly as he evaluated the reinstatement of the PACE subcommittee on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
According to David Harutyunyan, the PACE also humiliated itself when it appointed Goran Lindbland a Co-Rapporteur on Armenia, a man who shortly after announced that he was a "contractual lobbyist".
Member of the Armenian Delegation to the PACE, member of the BHK Naira Zohrabyan clarified that it referred to Azerbaijan and added that Lindbland had been awarded a medal by the PACE Chairman Mevlut Cavusoglu a month ago.
According to David Harutyunyan, the subcommittee will become a platform for accusations from both sides.
"Armenia is concerned with bringing the Armenian-Azerbaijani relations to a peaceful, constructive field, but the subcommittee excludes the existence of that outlook" said Harutyunyan.
Touching upon the NKR representative's possible participation in that committee, David Harutyunyan announced that there is always an attempt being made to put an equal sign between NKR authorities and a representative of some community.
"This approach is unacceptable. Armenia has always said the NKR is an independent third party and we are not preparing to take responsibility on behalf of the NKR," said Harutyunyan.
In response to a question on his disappointment in the CE, David Harutyunyan mentioned that if it refers to the PACE's role, he is generally not disappointed. However, according to him, in terms of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the PACE took an opposing step with its overtly biased working style by reinstating the subcommittee on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Let us remind that during its January 28 session, the PACE Bureau took a decision to create the PACE subcommittee to be headed by representative of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats Khordi Khugla Y Costa.
Before his nomination, the Alliance had nominated Michael Hancock. In response to the Armenian delegates' question on how impartial he is toward the NKR conflict, Hancock replied: "Armenians have occupied 50% of Azerbaijan." After this statement, Hancock refused to hold the office and Y Costa was elected.
The Armenian delegation to the PACE is still undecided on taking part in the activities of the PACE ad-hoc subcommittee, but one thing is clear: "We will not take part in the activities of any structure that will hurt the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution," announced David Harutyunyan.
Taking into account the PACE Chairman's clearly unilateral attitude toward Armenia, is it possible for the Armenian delegation to freeze its membership to the PACE? In response, David Harutyunyan said: "No, I don't consider that possible."
