12/10/2023 | 20:16:08 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Dear colleagues, Let me start by reminding you an important provision from the Reykjavik Declaration: “We consider democracy as the only means to ensure that everyone can live in a peaceful, prosperous and free society. We will meet our obligations under international law”. The fact is that at this very time democracy have failed to help the Armenians of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh. Real life has shown that human rights cannot be... 12/10/2023 | 16:42:45 Dear colleagues, I will reflect on two observations pertaining to the future of the Council of Europe and this Assembly keeping in mind the situation in the post-Soviet space. First, today, the Council of Europe presents our people with a rather dangerous choice to make between a genuine democracy and authoritarianism. Such a strange choice exists due to the fact that our organisation, is loyal to the coexistence of political regimes, like in Türkiye and Azerbaijan, under our common umbrella... 10/10/2023 | 19:24:39 Thank you. Dear colleagues, Over the past decades many member states, including my own, have looked up to France as a source of best practice of good governance, human rights protection and participatory technocratic process. But let me focus on one other issue, namely the human rights dimension in the foreign policy of France. Since the late 1990s, France has been a co-chair in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Minsk Group, which for two decades has tried to find a... 10/10/2023 | 17:14:09 Dear colleagues, This report is presented by a member of the ruling party of a country that just accomplished a complete ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh against the indigenous Armenian population. It is quite strange when a representative of Azerbaijan is presenting a report on the issue of human rights and democratic governance. Far-right ideologies most of the time consist of nationalist, xenophobic, militaristic and authoritarian sentiments. All these have been present in Azerbaijan... 10/10/2023 | 16:03:23 Thank you, Madam Secretary General, Just yesterday, during the same session we awarded the Václav Havel prize to the Turkish political prisoner Osman Kavala, recognising human rights violations in Türkiye and at the same time, we elected a new Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from Türkiye, essentially encouraging its current policy. This is just an observation, but you should know that as a part of its genocidal policy Azerbaijan recently captured the... 22/06/2023 | 19:44:35 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Mister President, Today I am taking the floor to ensure that no one claims "how could we know?" in the future. Due to the obvious inaction by many governments, civil society groups and political circles in the democratic Europe, the authoritarian regime of Azerbaijan very openly and almost daily creates conditions for the Armenian people in Nagorno-Karabakh, making civilian life there impossible. Today, 120 000 Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh... 20/06/2023 | 15:35:05 Mister Minister, US president Mr Joe Biden twice hosted the Summit for Democracy, where some member States were not invited because of backsliding from democratic credentials. One of them is the Republic of Azerbaijan, which has not only undermined democratic standards and rule of law, but also is engaged in activities to ethnically cleanse the region of its indigenous Armenian people. In this regard I would like to ask what is the red line for you in the case of Azerbaijan? In what scenario... 26/01/2023 | 20:07:27 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Mr. President, I want to make some statements of facts, which are important to know regarding the situation around Nagorno Karabakh. Without regard to the political and historic causes of the conflict, around 120.000 people are under siege for 46 days, and counting. They are made subject to starvation and survival in extreme conditions. This is happening only because they are Armenians and want to live in their homeland in freedom and dignity... 26/01/2023 | 17:55:58 Thank you, Madam Chairman. The Government of Azerbaijan as well as its representatives in this Assembly want us to forget about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. They don't want you to use the name of this unrecognised state. They don't want you to speak about the human toll of the of its aggression during the 44 day war in 2020. Moreover, Azerbaijan has, since May 2021, occupied sovereign territories of Armenia, launched a new three-day intensive hostilities last September in southern Armenia... 24/01/2023 | 17:12:21 Dear President, Today, many nations are facing an uneasy choice between democracy and security. In such an environment, one may observe a lack of any expectations from the Council of Europe among our citizens. I am wondering why we have ended up here and invite you to reflect together. Part of the reason in my assessment is that the Council of Europe designed to be a bastion of truly democratic values and freedoms has become to tolerate a certain transformation of some of its member States...