Paul Gavan: PACE has double standards, it does not fight for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh

PACE rapporteur Paul Gavan (Ireland) told Alpha News that he was proud to be one of the parliamentarians who insisted on not ratifying the credentials of the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation.

He said he is planning to ask the Committee of Ministers during the plenary session if there are guarantees that Azerbaijan will continue to be excluded.

This Assembly is supposed to protect human rights, which is supposed to be the focus of our work, he added.

Gavan considers it unacceptable for the Azerbaijani delegation to return to PACE while the people of Nagorno-Karabakh are still in exile, and are not provided with a guarantee of a safe return to their homeland and mechanisms for protection and security in their homeland.

I very clearly understand an international solution—international protection to ensure the security, well-being, and human rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh—and I am not optimistic about what is happening, he said.

According to Gavan, PACE has double standards; it likes to protect some, for example, Ukraine, but it does not fight for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, for Armenia. The Assembly does not protect the Kurdish brothers and sisters and the people of Palestine either.

Speaking about his plans to run for the European Parliament from Ireland, he assured that if he is elected, he will continue to be the voice that defends and advocates for a fair solution for Armenians in general and the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh in particular.