Elkhan Suleymanov’s speech
Today Elkhan Suleymanov, the Member of Parliament form Shamakhi, the Member of Azerbaijan Delegation in PACE had a speech in the meeting of Monitoring Committee. Andres Herkel, the Chairman of the Monitoring Committee tried to interrupt the speech of the Member of Azerbaijan Parliament. The reason for that was indicated as the violation of the standing order, but in fact the Members of Armenia Parliament and the pro-Armenian lawmakers tried to prevent the speech of the Member of Azerbaijan Parliament.
Today Elkhan Suleymanov, the Member of Parliament form Shamakhi, the Member of Azerbaijan Delegation in PACE had a speech in the meeting of Monitoring Committee. Andres Herkel, the Chairman of the Monitoring Committee tried to interrupt the speech of the Member of Azerbaijan Parliament. The reason for that was indicated as the violation of the standing order, but in fact the Members of Armenia Parliament and the pro-Armenian lawmakers tried to prevent the speech of the Member of Azerbaijan Parliament.
Elkhan Suleymanov stopped speaking at the end of his speech and left the meeting room as the protest to the ideas of the above mentioned persons.
We introduce you the full text of the Member of Parliament’s speech.
Dear Chairman,
Dear colleagues,
I would like to address you in order to prevent deepening of current hostile relations between Azerbaijani and Armenian nation.
I am perplexed that presidential elections held in Armenia in February are evaluated in the light of democracy, human rights, and rule of law.
Here I don’t want to talk about the facts that one of the candidates was shot and wounded within the election campaign or that huge part of Armenian society is not willing to recognize the returns of the elections as a protest to serious legal violations.
I would like to draw your attention to more serious criminal facts with heavy results: Armenia has conducted an armed aggression against Azerbaijan for 25 years and keeps 20% of Azerbaijani territories under occupation so far. Armenia carried out ethnic cleansing policy in the occupied territories, massively and grossly violated the rights of about one million Azerbaijanis, who consequently became refugees and internally displaced people.
The aggravating point is that Serj Sargisyan, commander of the armed Armenian groups which committed genocide crimes against civilians in Khojaly town of Azerbaijan on 26th February of 1992, has been elected President of Armenia.
Thomas de Waal, senior associate of the Washington DC-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace writes in his book “Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War” that when he asked Armenian Military Commander Serzh Sargsyan to talk about the occupation of Khojaly, he told: “Before Khojaly, the Azerbaijanis thought that they were joking with us, they thought that the Armenians were people who could not raise their hand against the civilian population. We were able to break that [stereotype].” Apparently, Serzh Sargsyan acknowledges that he is one of the authors and participants of bloody ethnic crimes against civilians in Khojaly.
The evaluation of presidential elections in Armenia, which keeps under occupation the territories of the other state and massively and grossly violates the rights of civilians for their ethnic origin in the occupied territories, in the light of democracy, human rights, and rule of law is abnormal and proves the corrosion of the system of democratic values.
Moreover, the evaluation of re-election of a person, who has committed grave crimes against civilians, as a head of state in CoE in the light of democracy, respect to human rights and compliance with the rule of law, contradicts principles of democracy.
I voice my protest to the evaluation of elections in an aggressor state in the light of democracy and the appreciation and considering legitimate of the election of the person, who committed grave crimes against humanity, as a president by democratic community and request to discuss this issue in Spring Plenary Session of PACE.
Such an anti-democratic evaluation incites disputable issues between the member states to become a war and destroys the trust of world nations in democracy.
Thank you for your attention.
