Tiny Kox: Azerbaijan could be excluded from the Council of Europe

When a member state of the Council of Europe does not fulfill its obligations, this has its consequences, PACE former president Tiny Kox told Alpha News.

“If Azerbaijan did what all member countries of the Council of Europe do, fulfilling their obligations, then we would be simply happy. But the country has problems with democracy, arrests of political prisoners, elections. It denies access to election observation. Membership in an organization is taken for granted. If you have joined the Council of Europe, you voluntarily agree to fulfill obligations. These are not orders. Azerbaijan was not forced to join the Council of Europe. It was a voluntary decision,” Kox noted.

He emphasized that challenging the credentials of the Azerbaijani delegation received wide support in the Assembly, and bad times had come for Azerbaijan. “Better times will come as well, I am sure that this is being done for all citizens of Azerbaijan. Let’s see what will be decided within a week,” he said.

Kox noted that the Assembly, the Committee of Ministers and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe could launch a joint procedure mechanism to exclude Azerbaijan from the organization for its violations.

Already in October, it was decided that the Assembly would not only consider challenging the credentials of Azerbaijan but would also discuss whether Azerbaijan could remain a member of the organization.

“We wouldn’t want to exclude the country, we didn’t want to exclude Russia. We had to do it because of serious violations of the organization’s Charter. We have to stick to our values,” Kox said.