Republican Party of Armenia

On October 9 the press conference of the Delegation of the RA National Assembly to the PACE was held, where the Head of the Delegation Davit Harutyunyan, members of Delegation Hermine Naghdalyan and Zaruhi Postanjyan took part. They presented the report of the work done in the PACE session, which was convened in Strasbourg on October 1-5, 2012. The members of the Delegation touched upon the resolutions discussed and adopted during the session and the NA delegates’ stances on them.

The Armenian Delegation has also taken part in the PACE Bureau sittings, as Armenia will preside over in the Committee of Ministers next year.

The NA Delegation members have addressed two questions in written form to the Chair of the Committee of Ministers. Zaruhi Postanjyan’s question was related to the order of the appointment of deputy directors of national minority schools. The thing is that the Turkish Government appoints the deputy directors, which the Armenian community considers inadmissible. Zaruhi Postanjyan has said that the answer of the question has not been satisfactory, and she will carry on referring to it.

Delivering his speech during free discussion the Delegation member Armen Rustamyan has touched upon the issue of granting a certain status to non-recognized states by the PACE. Palestine has been given as an example, which has been granted the status of “Partner of Democracy,” and it gives an opportunity to the representatives of Palestine to take part in the CoE meetings without right to vote. Armen Rustamyan has said that there are such states on the territory of the CoE member countries, and it’s not right that they are not granted such statuses.

Davit Harutyunyan has said that he has also raised that issue before, when the problem of Kosovo has been discussed. He has said that though progress has not been registered, nevertheless the works in this direction will continue. We should regularly insist on showing such approach by the Council of Europe towards non recognized states being on its territory.

Zaruhi Postanjyan has delivered a speech on the theme “Human Rights and Foreign Policy” and has drawn attention of the PACE delegates to the issues of the NKR conflict, operating of Stepanakert airport and the threats sounded from the Azerbaijani side connected with it. The Delegation member Naira Zohrabyan also has delivered a speech during the discussions on this theme and has opined that the economic interests in the sphere of foreign policy of the countries are prior compared with human rights, the vivid evidence of which is criminal Ramil Safarov’s extradition.

The Head of the PACE Delegation Davit Harutyunyan has said that a resolution has been discussed and adopted on “definition of political prisoner: the Armenian Delegation members Armen Rustamyan and Zaruhi Postanjyan have presented their views.

In particular, Armen Rustamyan has touched upon the availability of political prisoners, the issue of the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and non-cooperation of the Azerbaijani side with the speaker on that issue.

A resolution has been discussed and adopted, which has related to the PACE members’ behaviour. A number of proposals made by Davit Harutyunyan have been included in the resolution with the name “The PACE Members’ Behaviour Rules: Decent Work Style or Important Duty?” According to him, the main value of the adopted resolution is that as a result of which, the activeness of those fulfilling lobbyist activity will be limited in the organization.

The Delegation member Hermine Naghdalyan’s report “Restoration of Social Justice Through Taxation of Financial Deals” has been discussed and adopted, which has been initiated the PACE Committee on Economic Affairs and which has related to the study and reasons of world financial-economic crisis. In the report an attempt has been made to analyse the reason of the world financial-economic crisis and find ways to prevent such crises in future.

The Head of the PACE Delegation Davit Harutyunyan has said that during the session the case of extradition to Azerbaijan by the Hungarian authorities the Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov, who killed with an axe the sleeping Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan during the seminar organized by the NATO has been discussed, about which all the members of the Armenian Delegation have delivered speeches. They have expressed their stances, stressing that the crime has been committed on the ground of xenophobia.

Numerous delegates of other countries have delivered speeches, among them also the Hungarian delegates, who in their speeches have condemned the committeed crime, the criminal’s extradition and heroization.

Davit Harutyunyan has said that no resolution has been made on this discussion, but as a result of discussion, the Bureau will touch upon the problem of speculation of rights prescribed by the CoE international treaties.

The Delegation members also answered the journalists’ questions.