Azerbaijan Calls for Resolutions to be Declared Invalid by "Charade" Euronest Session

BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Azerbaijan has dismissed this week's meeting of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly in the Armenian capital Yerevan as a "charade" and has called for its resolutions to be declared invalid given the lack of involvement by MEPs and Eastern Partnership countries.

Of the six Eastern Partner nations, three were absent or refused to vote at the session, including Azerbaijan, which boycotted the event over the continued occupation by Armenia of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories.

The head of the Azerbaijani delegation and vice-president of Euronest PA, Elkhan Suleymanov, said the legitimacy of the event was further undermined by the fact that half of the MEPs from the European Parliament delegation also refused to vote.

"On that basis, the Fourth Euronest Parliamentary Assembly plenary session in Yerevan should be declared invalid," he said.

Suleymanov is also critical of the way the plenary session dealt with a resolution on the Armenian suffering during the First World War. Aside from the fact that he believes an urgency motion for an event that took place 100 years ago is "absurd", he said double standards were involved given there was no similar discussion of the genocide crimes that have taken place against Ukraine, Poland and - 110 years ago - against Azerbaijan.

"These double standards were highlighted during the debate by both MEPs and MPs but to no avail," he said.

Azerbaijan believes the Rules of Procedure of the Euronest PA were violated in the preparation of this motion, which was subject to secret deals and a lack of proper debate. In an open letter to Euronest PA members, Suleymanov said the Armenian delegation had threatened to vote against a motion condemning Russia's involvement in Ukraine if, in turn, they didn't get support for their own motion.

In the end, he added, "they still opposed the Ukrainian document therefore not even keeping their word."

Suleymanov says Armenia shouldn't be a member of Euronest PA, let alone hosting the Fourth Plenary session, given that it is a signed-up member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, a body whose aims and principles are "fully opposite" to Eastern Partnership platforms.