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Elnur Enveroglu

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Once again, a bunch of politicians serving their personal goals started to rumble in the hall of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Looking for various excuses, some political figures tried to aggravate the situation in the South Caucasus by opening the topic of the deliberately protracted peace treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

When the issue is thought through on its logical basis, it turns out that Azerbaijan has more value for the European Union. Because this is measured not only by Azerbaijan's role as an energy provider but also by the fact that Azerbaijan is a leading country on the most important international transport route. If we are talking about ensuring peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as security in the region, then Armenia, not Azerbaijan, should be questioned here.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a decision on the initiative to freeze Azerbaijan's vote. This decision supposedly deprives Azerbaijan of the privilege to express any opinion or objection within the framework of the EU. It should be noted that until today, more precisely, until 2020, Azerbaijan has always heard the words of the Council of Europe, PACE, OSCE, and other European organisations and has repeatedly participated in their "peace-building platform". However, the result is crystal clear and known to everyone...

In a nutshell, the inaction of the mentioned institutions created a real basis for the start of the Second Garabagh War in 2020. This means that the cold-blooded approach of the organisations in the European Union to the processes made Armenia even more confident and pushed it to attack in order to usurp the territories of Azerbaijan.

This decision has nothing to do with human rights. This is an attempt to take revenge against Azerbaijan, which has restored its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Because obviously, after the Second Garabagh War, there was a sharp change in the relations of the political circles in the European Union and PACE towards Azerbaijan. From the Western media to political organisations, everyone began to voice prejudice against Azerbaijan. Finally, Armenia's desperate recognition of Azerbaijan's sovereign territories lowered the voice of third parties.

For Azerbaijan, not only the freezing of votes in PACE but also this institution itself is of no importance. Because in the last thirty years, the institution's double standards in the region and turning a blind eye to the Armenian occupation have undermined trust in it. Let's remind once again that Azerbaijan once became a member of the Council of Europe due to hopes for a solution to the Garabagh conflict, i.e., the liberation of the occupied territories. But for many years, the institution did not take any measures against the fact of Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan and the occupation of territories and was satisfied with only a few statements without any legal weight.

But why did PACE not accuse the occupying Armenia and deprive it of the right to vote when the territories of Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur were under Armenian occupation?

History is not far away; if we look only 4 years back, we will see that Azerbaijan managed to solve all these problems with the support of the fraternal Turkiye. At that time, the Council of Europe tried not to show support but to hinder all processes. Today, the Garabagh problem has already been resolved. Currently, Azerbaijan does not need the Council of Europe, which does not have the authority to make fair decisions and solve problems. If PACE accepts this decision, the Azerbaijani delegation should stop its activities in this body. In addition, Azerbaijan may leave the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights.

Since Azerbaijan became a member of this organisation in 2001, pro-Armenian and Islamophobic forces have constantly used this organisation as a tool against Azerbaijan.

We must note with regret that today the Council of Europe is really a camp of Islamophobic and Turkophobic-thinking representatives of various European countries who cannot enter the European Parliament.

This can be compared with the political weight of the states represented in European organisations. For example, France, which has lost its global political influence, is already trying to implement its mission through Germany by promoting it. German MP Frank Schwabe's proposal on not confirming the credentials of the Azerbaijani delegation in the Council of Europe is a kind of revenge against Azerbaijan by biased and pro-Armenian forces like France.

At the same time, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, in his recent speech about Azerbaijan and its political will, openly declared his dangerous position against Azerbaijan's sovereignty. It is already clear that the Council of Europe, PACE, and OSCE have always wanted Azerbaijan's lands to remain under Armenian occupation, but the way they are concerned about this means that they have not achieved this and certainly will not be able to achieve it.

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Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews’ Deputy Editor-in-Chief, follow him on @ElnurMammadli1

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