Azrebaijan, Baku / corr. Trend I.Alizade / "Several months ago, I appealed to the Head of Milli Majlis [Azerbaijani Parliament] to transfer me from the Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to another organisation.There was no need for this issue to bepoliticized or to provide incorrect reasons for my request," the Member of the Azerbaijani Parliament, Elmira Akhundova, stated in her exclusive interview with Trend.
Akhundova said that she is represented as a reserve within the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE. "Despite this, I have worked actively. I made at least one visit per month abroad as part of my work with PACE and attended meetings of the committees. This presented certain difficulties for me and for this reason, I appealed to the Head of the Azerbaijani Parliament several months ago to transfer me to another group," she stated.
She highlighted the fact that the deputies who represent Azerbaijan in PACE are working harder than the representatives of the international organizations. Therefore, at least one foreign visit per month is to be made to participate in the discussions of the reports and work with the PACE representatives who visit Azerbaijan. "This has imposed certain difficulties for me and I appealed to the Head of the Azerbaijani Parliament to dismiss me from the delegation during rotation. However, I did request to be transferred another delegation," Akhundova stressed.
Akhundova said that her appeal was linked with her health and family problems. In addition to that she is writing 4-5 books and her activities in PACE inhibits her creative work. "I would like to complete the books and commence work on new projects," Akhundova said. She stressed that this was a technical issue and should not have been politicized. According to her, several people are keen to attach a political angle to this issue and connect it with the speech of fellow parliamentarian Huseyn Abdullayev. "It is as though I have been dismissed from the PACE delegation after my speech defending Abdullayev. This is not the case and the attitude towards me is good," she said.
Akhundova stated that she met with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, during his visit to Masally district on 9 April. "I spoke to the President of the problems with Masally for nearly ten minutes. In addition, we discussed my proposal to hold a business forum in Masally," she added.
Akhundova said that she would transfer to another international organization with pleasure. According to her, this issue has not been finalized as yet. "Should I be offered such a proposal, I would take it with pleasure," she underlined.
Akhundova made the suggestion that it would be a good idea, after several years, to transfer the deputies who represent Azerbaijan into other various international organizations. This could provide an opportunity to gather experience within international organizations. Akhundova said that she would continue her activities as Deputy.
The member of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, Elmira Akhundova, was replaced with the deputy from Musavat Party, Iltizam Akberly.