SWISS FM INDIGNANT AT WITH PACE PRESIDENT’S ATTEMPTS

news.am
May 3 2010
Armenia

Although no Armenia-related issues were on the agenda of the
spring session of the CE Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), the Armenian
delegation was most efficient and accomplished a number of tasks, Naira
Zohrabyan, member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, told NEWS.am.

In presenting her report entitled "Women’s rights in conflict and
post-conflict regions", Zohrabyan told about Armenian pogroms in
Azerbaijan, particularly in Marag, "In my other report, which I,
unfortunately, had not time to present, but which is available on the
PACE website, I addressed Ilham Aliyev’s claim that no ethnic cleansing
had ever taken place in Azerbaijan. By presenting numerous facts,
I disproved his claim and drew my European colleagues’ attention to
the fact that no encampments might now exist in Azerbaijan of that
country’s authorities had allowed the refugees to occupy the 92,000
flats left by the Armenians killed an forcibly displaced from the
country," Zohrabyan said.

She also reported that Azerbaijan continues its efforts to intensify
the discussions of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem at different
international institutions, particularly at PACE. "But Head of the
Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Micheline Calmy-Rey,
who is also Chairperson of the CE Ministers’ Committee, prevented
the attempts. She regards as unacceptable any other format except for
the OSCE Minsk Group for the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process despite
PACE President Mevlut CavuÅ~_oglu’s efforts to get the issue put
on the PACE agenda," Zohrabyan said. Micheline Calmy-Rey also drew
the international community’s attention to the Armenian-Turkish
process and underlined the necessity for seriously considering
official Yerevan’s signal about suspending the ratification of the
Armenian-Turkish protocols.

As regards the formation on a PACE subcommittee on Nagorno-Karabakh,
Zohrabyan stressed that no relevant agreement was reached. "A meeting
between Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentary delegations with Mevlut
CavuÅ~_oglu’s participation was only arranged for further agreements
to be reached. So Mr. CavuÅ~_oglu’s nominating himself to the post of
chairman of a subcommittee which may not even be formed is, to put it
mildly, surprising," Zohrabyan said. She also reported that Speaker
of the Nagorno-Karabakh Parliament Ashot Ghulyan sent an invitation
to PACE to observe parliamentary elections in the NKR.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress