Azernews.Az

The statements made by the newly-elected president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Mevlut Cavusoglu, on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict and Turkey-Armenia relations have raised concerns in Armenia, the spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry has reportedly said.
"Barely has the ink dried out on the decision to elect Cavusoglu as PACE head, he makes biased statements, abusing his authoritative position and subduing it to his narrow interests," Tigran Balayan claimed in remarks quoted by the Novosti Armenii news agency.
Cavusoglu has said in an interview with Azerbaijan’s APA news agency that the Garabagh conflict is one of the most pressing problems of the region that is posing roadblocks for normalizing the historically-strained Turkey-Armenia relations. He also noted that the Council of Europe decisions confirm that Azerbaijan’s occupied territories, including Garabagh, are part of Azerbaijan and indicate these lands within the country’s borders.
Balayan went as far as accusing the new PACE president of damaging the process of Garabagh settlement.
"It is disappointing that a high-ranking representative of Turkey’s ruling party, undeliberately, or, perhaps, deliberately, is harming the process of resolving the Garabagh problem by such statements, which is unacceptable for the head of an authoritative organization like PACE, whose primary task is to eliminate discrepancies among the organization’s member states," the Armenian ministry spokesman alleged.
Balayan maintained, further, that attempts to link Turkish-Armenian reconciliation with the Garabagh settlement have long failed and have been adequately assessed by the world community.
Shortly after Yerevan’s stern response, Cavusoglu retracted his statement on the Garabagh conflict. According to Novosti Armenii, he said during a phone conversation with Armenian Parliament Speaker Ovik Abramian that the APA reporter he was speaking to had misunderstood him.
"Cavusoglu told Abramian during the conversation that APA quoted a number of remarks he had not made in the statement published on January 26. Cavusoglu assured that the statements had resulted from improper translation and the Azerbaijani journalist’s misunderstanding," the Armenian parliament’s press-service has said.
Cavusoglu, chairman of the PACE Turkey delegation and a deputy of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, succeeded Spanish parliamentarian Luis Maria de Puig as PACE’s president for two years on Monday. He is the first Turkish lawmaker in the history of the Council of Europe to preside the organization.
Armenia and Turkey have been at odds for decades. In a bid to end the long-standing hostility, the two governments signed protocols in Zurich on October 10, 2009 to establish diplomatic relations and reopen their borders. However, the documents require parliamentary approval, and Ankara has ruled out normalization with Yerevan until the conflict between Armenia, which occupies part of Azerbaijani territory, and Azerbaijan, Turkey’s ally, has been fairly resolved.*