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YEREVAN, JANUARY 26, ARMENPRESS: The authorities of the Armenian delegation have not been approved at the PACE winter session which kicked off yesterday in Strasburg. The mandates of the Armenian delegation have been disputed by the representative of the Europe People’s Party connected with the changes made in the membership of the delegation. Head of the Armenian delegation to PACE David Harutyunyan gave some explanations to Armenpress news agency.
- Mr. Harutyunyan, the authorities of the Armenian NA delegation have not been approved, what procedural steps will follow it?
- Not approving does not mean rejecting the authorities, and the delegation participates in the sessions with one exclusion – it does not have right to participate in the voting connected with the issues on Armenia’s authorities. January 26 in the morning the session of the PACE Regulating Committee will kick off which will discuss whether there are violations of regulation or not. In case the session comes to conclusion that there are no such violations, the issue will automatically be withdrawn from the agenda and our authorities will be considered reaffirmed. In case they conclude that there are violations on Thursday, on the second half of the day, the Assembly will start the discussion of the issue.
- What do you predict?
- I do not like making predictions, but in this case I am sure that the decision of the committee will be positive as it is only an issue of number.
- Co-rapporteurs of the monitoring commission John Prescott and George Columbien were expected to present a document on the conclusion of the Armenian parliamentary ad hoc commission connected with the March 1-2, 2008 mass unrest in Yerevan. As it is known the discussion did not take place.
- Today the commission did not manage to discuss all the issues of the agenda because of lack of time, the issue will be discussed January 26 or the next day.
- How do you assess the fact that representative of Turkey has been elected the chairman of PACE. Won’t it activate Azerbaijanis in PACE?
- I think it does not only create additional opportunity for the country (Turkey) but also adds certain commitments for the PACE chairman. Taking into consideration the main goals of this institution and the bases on which it has been built, I am sure that the chairman of the Assembly will do everything he can to bring the establishment on a new level. In this respect we do not see any serious issue and are ready to cooperate with this chairman too. I do not exclude that this election will give the Azerbaijani side an opportunity to more freely express its position, the false information they very frequently fill this institution. In such case they will get corresponding response. I am not concerned in connection with it.