Minutes ago, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) decided not to ratify the powers of the Azerbaijani delegation. Ruben Rubinyan, deputy speaker of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia and head of the NA delegation to the PACE, wrote about this on Facebook.

"With this decision, the delegation of Azerbaijan was removed from PACE for at least 1 year, and during that time it can return only if it fulfills its regulatory obligations.

In the adopted resolution, the Assembly refers to the resolution ‘Ensuring free and safe access through the Lachin corridor’ adopted in June 2023, in which the Assembly has confirmed the lack of free and safe traffic through the Lachin corridor, being shocked by the fact that the leadership of Azerbaijan did not recognize the serious humanitarian and human rights implications stemming from the ten-month-long situation. The Assembly deeply regrets that the PACE rapporteur on the Lachin corridor issue could not travel to the Lachin corridor within the framework of the fact-finding mission.

The Assembly mentions as well the ‘Humanitarian Situation in Nagorno-Karabakh’ resolution adopted in October 2023, by which the PACE has condemned the military operations of Azerbaijan in September 2023, which led to the flight of the entire Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, raising suspicions of ethnic cleansing. It was in this resolution that the Assembly emphasized that in the absence of a change in the situation regarding Azerbaijan's non-fulfillment of its statutory obligations, it will not ratify the powers of the Azerbaijani delegation in January.

The Parliamentary Assembly notes that more than 20 years after joining the Council of Europe, Azerbaijan has not fulfilled the main obligations stemming from membership in the organization. There are serious concerns about the ability to hold free and fair elections in Azerbaijan, the separation of powers, the weakness of the legislature compared to the executive, the independence of the judiciary, and the protection of human rights.

The Assembly deeply regrets that it was not invited to observe the upcoming [snap] presidential elections [in Azerbaijan], although Azerbaijan has the obligation to send the invitation as a country subject to monitoring.

“The Assembly is also concerned that the co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee were not allowed to meet with persons accused or arrested [in Azerbaijan] for political motives," Rubinyan added.