April 5, 2012 - 15:03 AMT
Armenia to bring Aliyev’s statement to Euronest leadership attention

Vahan Hovhannisyan, head of the Armenian delegation to Euronest Parliamentary Assembly said that Armenia is going to raise the issue of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev’s notorious statement at the Assembly’s plenary session.

“We will address a letter [to Euronest management] comprising a general estimate of the incident, as well as our speech at the session,” he told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

According to the Armenian delegation head, in particular, they will propose not organize such events in Azerbaijan in order to prevent similar incidents in future.

Armenian delegate Naira Zohrabyan told journalists that neither a Euronest leader nor a member of a European delegation openly criticized Aliyev.

However, many PA representatives and even Azerbaijani MPs, unnamed for known reasons, approached the Armenian delegation after Azerbaijani president’s statement to voice their disagreement with Aliyev’s words and support the Armenians, Armenian representatives said.

On April 3, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev called Armenians “fascists” during a plenary sitting of Euronest Parliamentary Assembly in Baku. The statement sparked resentment of the Armenian delegation which dubbed it improper and beyond diplomatic norms. Representative of Euronest delegation and other countries also expressed discontent with Aliyev’s conduct.

Euronest inter-parliamentary union includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.