SHUSHA, Azerbaijan, July 13. And I can tell you openly that we, in our government, were seriously evaluating a complete departure from the institution, not only freezing our membership in PACE but also leaving the Council of Europe as a whole, said President Ilham Aliyev during a meeting with participants of the 4th Shusha Global Media Forum.
"With respect to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, unfortunately, we see an absolutely different picture, and I personally regret that because I was the first head of the Azerbaijani delegation when I was a member of Parliament in 2001, and for two years I was working there. And as you know, there are four sessions throughout the year.
So for me, it's not a pleasant situation that it happened, but the reason why it happened is very important in order to answer your question: What should be done in order to find a way out of the deadlock? Until the liberation of 100% of our territories from separatist and Armenian occupational forces in September 2023, Azerbaijan was never under any sanctions in PACE. In September 2023, when we used our legitimate right of self-defense and liberated the territory from the remaining separatists, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe decided to punish Azerbaijan. And in January 2024, they called into question the credentials of the Azerbaijani delegation and also deprived the Azerbaijani delegation of its voting right. So that was not because of the so-called human rights issues. If it had been about that, it would have been done probably much earlier. It was just punishment for us for what we've done in order to restore our sovereignty. And after that, the Azerbaijani delegation made a very wise decision. They stopped attending the meetings, because if we don't have the voting right, why should we be there?
And we, by the way, did not vote for the judges of the European Court of Human Rights, and that's why Azerbaijan does not recognize the decisions of the Court, because we don't know who these people are. We did not vote for them, and for more than two years we have been discriminated against. And I can tell you openly that we, in our government, were seriously evaluating a complete departure from the institution, not only freezing our membership in PACE but also leaving the Council of Europe as a whole.
But I was approached by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr. Alain Berset, and I was asked not to do it, and to try to find a way to improve the situation, so I put that on hold. But unfortunately, since that time, nothing has happened. There are some very strange and ultimatum-like demands from PACE to Azerbaijan, which are absolutely unacceptable. It was not us who ruined relations; it was them. They deprived us of our voting right without any legitimate grounds. So what should be done is that they should restore the voting rights of the Azerbaijani delegation, and after that, the Azerbaijani delegation will come back. It should be exactly as I said, not vice versa," the head of state said.
