France, Strasburg, 14 April / Trend corr A. Maharramli, I. Alizade/ PACE is concerned about the authorities-opposition crisis in Armenia which emerged from the presidential elections in the country. "We - the Assembly and I, as the head of the organization, are deeply concerned about the ongoing situation in Armenia," Luis Maria de Puig, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said at the press conference on 14 April.
The Chairman said that PACE had already carried out some work in this connection and is now trying to find ways out of the situation. "During my recent meeting with Armenian Speaker Torosyan at St. Petersburg I once again attempted to remind him of the CE norms and standards. I informed him of my opinion regarding the violation of a range of CE principles and standards by his country," he said.
According to Puig, PACE supervised the recent elections in Armenia and sent in an expert when the country was experiencing the aftermath of the elections to study the situation. "We made several warnings. If the Armenian Administration really supports the CE principles and accepts all the points of obligation it has undertaken, we have to do so that Armenia will correct the violated elements. We decided to discuss the issue and will adopt a recommendatory document afterwards," Puig said.
"We believe that Armenia accepts the CE principles and tries to fulfil them, but if some problems occur we will insist on Armenia's accepting the CE standards," he said.