EX-PACE president: Recent resolution on political prisoners biased - UPDATE

Armenia constantly obstructs the activity of the subcommittee on Nagorno-Karabakh in the CE Parliamentary Assembly, member of the Turkish Parliament and former PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu told media in Baku today.

"Despite the obstacles made by the Armenians, the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is always on the PACE agenda," he said. "If PACE is an organisation for the protection of human rights and democracy, why does it not protect the rights of people displaced from Armenia or the Khojaly genocide victims?"

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the U.S. - are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

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The recent resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on political prisoners is biased, Turkish MP and former president of PACE Mevlut Cavusoglu told journalists in Baku, commenting on a report on political prisoners made by the Parliamentary Assembly's rapporteur Christopher Strasser.

"We hoped that the report, preparation of which began three years ago, will be objective and we believed that it would be acceptable to all countries, but the prepared document is related only to Azerbaijan," Cavusoglu said.

He said a single mechanism should be created for definition of the term 'political prisoner'.

This issue should be discussed in the interests of both Central and Eastern Europe countries, Cavusoglu said.

On Wednesday, PACE adopted a resolution that defines the essence of the term 'political prisoner'.


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