Treat us with 'More Respect' for Better European Cooperation, Azerbaijan Tells Euronest PA

BRUSSELS, November 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

The Chairman of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly says his nation remains committed to European cooperation but must be treated as an "equal partner, with more respect" for it to be achieved.

Elkhan Suleymanov was speaking at a meeting of the Political Affairs, Human Rights and Democracy Committee of the Euronest PA, at which he was outnumbered by six Armenian MPs, including the chairperson Naira Zohrabyan.

"Thus they tried to interrupt my speech, monopolised the discussion, and constantly blocked my attempts to elicit obvious answers on key subjects from the European speakers," he later noted.

He told the meeting that while Azerbaijan has had its territorial integrity violated like its Eastern Partnership neighbours Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine; it does not get the same level of respect as those nations, nor the time to discuss this issue at Euronest PA.

"Azerbaijan wants more cooperation with the EU, maybe a new treaty, but only if the EU treats it more like an equal partner, with more respect and invests more in its security," Suleymanov said.

"If this institution doesn't discuss the most important problems of the member states and makes no effort for their resolution, then the perspectives of this institution are obscure," he added.

He told the meeting that while Russia has endured European sanctions over its military role in Ukraine, Armenia remains unaffected by such measures despite occupying Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories for more than two decades.

And on the topic of Russia and its regional influence, Suleymanov said Armenia must be ruled out of any future European treaty talks of its own, given it last month signed Moscow's Customs Union Treaty, which makes it "incompatible with further cooperation with the EU".

The wide-ranging committee meeting also touched on the criminal case against Azerbaijan activist Leyla Yunus with Armenian MP Alexander Arzoumanyan, who called her a very close friend and "sister".

"I immediately mentioned that Leyla Yunus was accused of treason and was investigated for facilitating the leaking of Azeri secrets to Armenia and Arzoumanyan's words prove this fact," Suleymanov said later.

Azerbaijan maintains it is committed to European integration and, in the past six months, Baku has signalled its preference for a strategic modernization partnership with Europe.