PACE at odds with Azerbaijan for several pro-Armenian politicians
Elnur Enveroglu
Read moreFounded in Europe in 1949, PACE is committed to the mission of promoting democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in Europe. The main institutions of the organization, which consists of 46 member states, include the Committee of Ministers (MC), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Commissioner for Human Rights, and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
But the question is does the PACE show loyalty to the organization's mission?
From January 2024, the Azerbaijani delegation decided to suspend cooperation with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and its participation in the organization for an indefinite period. Since then, relations between PACE and Azerbaijan have been suspended. The Western press reports that this decision was made after the calls of the European MPs to not accept the credentials of the members of the Azerbaijani delegation at PACE.
The Assembly came to the conclusion that official Baku did not fulfil its "main obligations" and adopted a resolution on this.
PACE claims that official Baku does not respect the democratic values based on the fundamental principles of the European Union. In addition to exhibiting a biased position in the post-Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict, the organization also tried to interfere in the internal affairs of official Baku. Citing "arrests and violations of human rights" within the country, PACE allegedly claims that Azerbaijan prevents freedom of speech.
It is easy to criticize and blame, but it is not every organization's job to be exemplary, is not it? It seems that either PACE cannot withstand those heavy "fundamental principles" that it has taken on as a mission, or there are serious problems within the organization.
For example, the presence of corrupt and pro-Armenian politicians like Frank Schwabe in PACE is a clear threat to Azerbaijan. Because Schwabe always grossly violates the principles of law with both his financial nterests and biased views.
We wonder how long Azerbaijan will have to turn a blind eye to the decisions made by pro-Armenian politicians of the European Union.
The anti-terrorist measures of September 19, 2023, left Europe in deep question. After all, until that time, some pro-Armenian politicians made promises to their partners.
But their promises did not come true. On the contrary, the political representatives of PACE, who tried to obstruct the work of the State Border Service at the Lachin border crossing point, tried to move towards the red line.
On January 22, 2024, the reason for the pain of PACE became clear.
PACE was not invited to the extraordinary presidential elections held in Azerbaijan on February 7, 2024. The reason was clear - what can an organization that does not want to include Azerbaijan and does not respect its territorial integrity do in the elections?
Eventually, the date is 2024 and the upcoming parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan did not want to see the PACE delegation in the elections again. Of course, this incident greatly disturbed the president of PACE, Theodoros Rousopoulos, of Greek origin. The PACE President has reacted to the announcement by the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan that certain members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will be considered as personae non gratae in the country. Azerbaijan's blacklisting of 76 PACE members, in fact, has had a serious impact on PACE. When PACE discriminated against Azerbaijan, it should have known that it would end like this. An organization that only unilaterally advocates for Armenia and disrespects the territorial integrity of the other side should now think: either to eliminate discrimination or to leave the leading state of the South Caucasus out of the loop, relying on the unfair approach of a few biased politicians.
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