Azerbaijan is doing everything to ensure that its voting rights in PACE are not returned - Frank Schwabe

The return of the voting rights of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE is possible if the requirements of the Council of Europe are met. However, Baku has not yet demonstrated such a desire. German MP Frank Schwabe, one of the initiators of the decision to deprive the Azerbaijani delegation of its vote, stated in  interview with Turan news agency.

“If you carefully read the report adopted at the January PACE session, we noted that the delegation was deprived of the right to vote for one year. We will be ready to consider another option, but only on the condition that Azerbaijan is ready to fully follow the rules of the Council of Europe. Unfortunately, so far we see the opposite. It is enough to mention the events of recent months - the arrests of Toplum TV journalists, the refusal to release the very sick Gubad Ibadoglu. These are all very clear signals that we have to take into account,” the deputy said.

Is it expected that a number of PACE member countries will raise the issue of returning the voting rights of the Azerbaijani delegation? To this question Schwabe said that he was aware of such diplomatic pressure.

“But PACE is not a place for trade, it is an organization where principles, rules and values apply. In recent months, we have again seen that Azerbaijan does not recognize or comply with these rules. On the contrary, we saw steps in the opposite direction, especially after January of this year,” emphasized Frank Schwabe.