HEAD OF ARMENIAN DELEGATION TO PACE: THE EUROPEAN MISSION’S REFUSAL TO VISIT THE REGION IS A RESULT OF AZERBAIJAN’S INTENSIFYING PRESSURE ON EUROPEAN STRUCTURES

ArmInfo Agency, Armenia
Oct 8 2007

ArmInfo. "The European missions’ refusals to visit the region
that have recently become frequent are the result of Azerbaijan’s
intensifying pressure on the European structures and increasing
caution of Europeans," Chairman of the Armenian delegation to PACE
David Harutyunyan said in the Armenian Parliament, Monday.

According to him, during the meeting with Lord Russell Johnston,
the head of the PACE temporary commission on Nagorno-Karabakh, and
Samed Seidov, the head of the Azeri delegation to PACE, the Armenian
side suggested continuing the discussion on the above- mentioned issue
concerning Stepanakert. Touching upon the statement of Armen Rustamyan,
a member of the Armenian delegation, D.Harutyunyan noted that his
speech concerned the activity of the International Organization for
Migration. In addition, Gultakin Hajiyeva, a member of the Azeri
delegation to PACE, made a report on migration at the session. She
seized the opportunity and evaded the main topic of her report,
dwelling upon the problem of refugees and Nakhijevan’s blockade from
the Armenian side. Afterwards Armen Rustamyan made a speech. He noted
that Ms. Hajiyeva evaded the main topic of her report, touching upon
the Karabakh problem, and displayed discriminatory treatment to the
topic. During the meeting with Secretary General of the Council of
Europe Terry Davis, the Armenian parliamentary delegation stressed the
fact that Azerbaijan, which regularly sets preconditions, frustrates
the PACE and CE international experts’ visits aimed at gathering facts
and assessing the situation with the medieval khachkars (cross-stones)
in the area of Old Julfa’s cemetery.