The Council of Europe Seems to Have Transformed into an Anti-Russian Club: Zohrabyan

Today in Strasbourg, the priorities of the Council of Europe were discussed, during which National Assembly member of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Naira Zohrabyan, stated that she finds it perplexing why the issue of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny consistently becomes the predominant topic of the Assembly, while the liberation of Armenian prisoners of war, the anti-Armenian statements by Azerbaijan's political elite, and the shameful exhibition of captured Armenian military equipment in Azerbaijan do not receive a clear assessment from the international community.

In her speech, Zohrabyan characterized the exhibition of Armenian military equipment that opened in Baku as ordinary fascism. Speaking about Armenian prisoners of war, she noted that the body of one of the prisoners of war recorded in Azerbaijani videos has been buried by his parents, as he was killed in captivity.

Naira Zohrabyan called on the Assembly to assess Azerbaijan's anti-Armenian policy and to use all its leverage for the release of Armenian prisoners of war.

In her address, Zohrabyan stated:

“Dear colleagues,

Today we are discussing a very important report on the priorities and strategies of our organization. It is a fact that in recent years the Council of Europe and our Assembly have undergone very strange transformations while defining their priorities. It is at least bewildering for me that the Council of Europe, which seems to have transformed into an anti-Russian club, chooses the issue of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny as the number one topic in all its recent agendas. Meanwhile, what is happening in some member countries of the Council of Europe in the 21st century is simply horrific. Just days ago, an unprecedented exhibition opened in Baku, showcasing military trophies seized from Armenia during the last war, and one had to see how Aliyev proudly walked among the helmets of killed Armenian soldiers and how Azerbaijani children amused themselves by strangling mannequins of Armenian soldiers. The issue of this fascist exhibition in Baku should have become one of the main topics today.

It was horrifying to see the scenes of Azerbaijanis queuing for kilometers to witness that disgraceful exhibition. They brought their children, who declared that Armenians are their genetic enemies.

Dear colleagues, it is good that today our Assembly will finally discuss the issue of Armenian prisoners of war. Six months after the war, we have hundreds of prisoners of war held in Azerbaijani prisons, and Azerbaijan not only refuses to provide precise information about Armenian prisoners of war to the European Court of Human Rights but also cynically claims that they are not prisoners of war. By the way, one of the prisoners of war was buried by his parents recently. I want to understand why the Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe has not yet visited the prisons in Baku to see the inhumane conditions in which Armenian prisoners of war are kept.

Dear colleagues, when neighboring countries Azerbaijan and Turkey grossly violate human rights, when Aliyev declares that they won this war because a whole generation of Azerbaijani youth was raised with hatred towards the enemy, such racist and anti-Armenian statements should become the subject of discussion in our organization; otherwise, with fake agendas, we are trampling on the fundamental values of our institution.”