(EXCLUSIVE) Azerbaijan will not be able to talk to us in the language of demands and orders — PACE President

Theodoros Roussopoulos, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, told Alpha News that he did not agree that there was a collective silence in PACE regarding what happened in Nagorno-Karabakh.

We have discussed this issue many times, and this does not mean that we will not do it again and speak out regarding what concerns Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, he said.

He added that his position and the position of the Assembly regarding Azerbaijan had not changed since January.

The head of PACE noted that he discussed this situation with the new Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

“We have had many discussions and we call on Azerbaijan to take all necessary actions to prove that we can discuss whether we can give it the opportunity to return to the Assembly. I am very disappointed that Azerbaijan has made the so-called ‘list of shame’ by banning 76 parliamentarians. It is now hosting COP29. Many parliamentarians whom I personally know usually attend such events, in this case they will not be able to do so. I do not like this ‘old school diplomacy’. Even if they admitted they were wrong to publish this ‘list of shame’, I do not consider it an act of goodwill.

They should not have done this in the first place because what they did is contrary to all the principles of the Assembly and this organization. They said that they banned the MPs because they voted against them. But that is the point of democracy. If anyone believes that democracy is about demanding or ordering, they should go to other places, not to this Assembly,” he said.

“We will stick to our point of view as an Assembly, we do not reject the possibility of Azerbaijan’s return, but on the condition that it knows that the rules exist for all members. If Azerbaijan thinks it can demand and order, and we will obey, then no, this will not happen, and not because I am the president, but because this Assembly thinks, acts, and votes as a democratically functioning organization should, which is not appointed but elected. When you are elected, you not only have the opportunity, but you are also obliged to express your opinion freely,” Roussopoulos concluded.