Ahead of the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) launched in Strasbourg, Azeris have again demonstrated activeness at the political group session of the European People’s Party (EPP). Rovshan Rzayev, a member of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE has raised a question about the Iskander in Armenia, allegedly pointing out the assistance by Russia to Armenia. Aravot.am asked Samvel Farmanyan, a participant of the session, a member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, RPA faction MP, for the details regarding this incident. He said the following: “Mher Shahgeldyan responded to this question raised by the representative of Azerbaijan, citing to the difference of military budgets between the two countries, and the supplement of weapons of Azerbaijan in violation of international norms.”
To our question of whether there is a fear that Azerbaijan will use the theme of Iskander as a pretext for raising the issues related to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the PACE, Farmanyan said, no. At the EPP meeting, Samvel Farmanyan raised the issue of Luca Volontè, the former president of the same faction. He is accused by the Milan prosecutor’s office of his political activities in favor of Azerbaijan in 2012-2014, which discredits the EPP political family’s reputation in the eyes of Europeans.
We were curious to know about the reaction of the EPP President Joseph Daul, Mr. Farmanyan replied, “Joseph Dual has announced that he attaches great importance to the transparent investigation of the case and is aware of the investigation conducted by the Milan prosecutor’s office, the EPP family also follows the process of the case and will make conclusions after the judicial resolution.” Note that PACE will conduct its autumn session on October 10-14. There is no agenda item about Armenia in this session. The agenda items will include the situation in Turkey, the Ukraine crisis and its possible consequences. French President Francois Hollande, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will deliver a speech at the PACE plenary sessions.
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Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
