Baku, Azerbaijan, May 2
By Elchin Mehdiyev – Trend:
Azerbaijani MPs criticized the decision made by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) at the spring session to bring back monitoring of Turkey’s commitment to its obligations to the Council of Europe.
“PACE’s decision on Turkey is subjective,” MP Azay Guliyev said at a plenary meeting of the Azerbaijani parliament May 2.
"PACE has not even condemned the military coup attempt in Turkey,” Guliyev said. “PACE was indifferent to this issue.”
MP Ganira Pashayeva also expressed regret that PACE made such a decision.
Pashayeva added that the decision once again demonstrated the existence of double standards in relation to the Muslim countries.
“According to the PACE principles, a PACE member-state can not occupy the territory of another member state, but the Azerbaijani lands have been under Armenia’s occupation for many years and PACE does not exert any pressure on Armenia.”
“We condemn this biased approach in relation to Turkey and people must know that there are double standards in PACE," Pashayeva said.
MP Zahid Oruj also said that the PACE decision is biased.
“Azerbaijan supports Turkey in this issue,” he added.
He added that PACE decision is aimed at taking control over Turkey and hindering its independent policy.
"PACE’s decision on Turkey is among the interests of the Islamophobic forces which dislike successful reforms in Turkey,” MP Chingiz Ganizade said. “Of course, they do not want to see a strong Muslim country."
MP Siyavush Novruzov said that there is nothing surprising in PACE’s decision on Turkey.
"We have repeatedly witnessed unfair decisions made by European organizations towards Azerbaijan and this is another unfair attitude,” he said.
Other MPs also condemned PACE’s decision and stressed that this is the position of the circles wishing to slow down the development of Turkey.
Earlier, the majority of PACE members voted for adoption of a resolution bringing back monitoring on Turkey. Some 113 parliamentarians voted for the resolution, 45 voted against it, and 12 abstained.
Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the PACE decision, calling it politicized and unfair.