WILL THE AZERI BE MORE RESTRAINED?
Karine Asatryan
A1+
[03:49 pm] 29 January, 2009
Twenty six PACE delegates signed under a statement by which Azerbaijan
is trying to show prejudice and hatred against Armenia. The Armenian
delegates put the document in circulation and the signatures were
collected within a day.
PACE Armenian delegates Naira Zohrabyan and Hermine Naghdalyan were
approaching the delegates of different countries and presenting the
statement as they were passing through the hallways of the Council
of Europe.
The statement regards Azerbaijan’s prejudice and xenophobia against
Armenia. Based on the statement, the Azeri government is required to
immediately put an end to all acts of prejudice and hatred towards
Armenia, its citizens and people of Armenian nationality. The statement
also calls on the Assembly to observe those manifestations and present
them in a corresponding report.
The signatories are delegates from Italy, France, Albania,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine, Great Britain, Norway and Estonia.
"Tolerance towards one another fits in with the rules of the game
set by the Council of Europe, but xenophobia is out. The working
style which the Azeri delegates have adopted is, according to us,
absolutely doesn’t correspond to the system of values of the Council
of Europe," said member of the Armenian delegation Naira Zohrabyan.
The Azeri delegates in Strasburg are not missing out on any opportunity
to criticize Armenia’s policies and are even aiming insults. They
dispersed a message yesterday in the PACE that "for 60 years, Armenia
has been violating fundamental human rights of 150,000 Azeri, who
have been exiled from Armenia in mid-20th century."