During the fall session of PACE, an envoy of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, Rafayel Huseynov, reminding everyone that the European Parliament will be celebrating its 70th anniversary in six months and that there’s an initiative to publish the speeches of all members’ 216 presidents, suggested that the two former Armenian presidents’ speeches not be published, saying, “The two former Armenian presidents are two of the 216 presidents who have held speeches at this convention. We have raised the issue over the past 18 years of the criminal regime in Armenia and have presented facts. We have always voiced our opinion that the presidential elections in Armenia were unjust and a part of the criminal regime, but PACE has always legitimized those elections.”
Rafayel Huseynov announced that Armenians think that their former two presidents are criminals, and raised the question of whether PACE should thus allow their speeches to be published on the website.
Edmon Marukyan, a member of the Armenian delegation to PACE, did not want to respond to his Azerbaijani colleague’s speech, and simply said, “Please fight for your country and its democracy and do not spread lies within this respectful structure.”
Edmon Marukyan stated that holding snap parliamentary elections is no longer an issue that can be postponed in Armenia, and it needs to be organized in accordance with the law, with the fundamentals of human rights and democracy at its base. He called upon the convention to support the new leaders of Armenia in organizing parliamentary elections.
Tatev Harutyunyan
