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Opposition Hayastan faction MP Armen Gevorgyan, a member of Armenia's delegation to the PACE, delivered remarks at the debate on the role of the Council of Europe in preventing conflicts, restoring credibility of international institutions and promoting global peace during the PACE autumn session on October 12. His full statement is provided below.

"Dear colleagues,

I will reflect on two observations pertaining to the future of the Council of Europe and this Assembly keeping in mind the situation in the post-Soviet space.

First, today, the Council of Europe presents our people with a rather dangerous choice to make between a genuine democracy and authoritarianism. Such a strange choice exists due to the fact that our organisation, is loyal to the coexistence of political regimes, like in Türkiye and Azerbaijan, under our common umbrella. Therefore, I am asking you to be alert that our organisation does not transform from being a champion of democratic governance and human rights into a greenhouse for authoritarian regimes.

Second, the past 30 years of experiments resulted in an unfortunate transformation of democracy and human rights from genuine values into a mechanism for promoting geopolitical interests. This has created not only competition between so-called liberal values and conservative traditions but also created a practice of promoting democracy by non-democratic means. Double standards, power, politics, oil and gas have emerged as the dominant factors in international relations, instead of democratic culture, human rights and the rule of law.

As a result of the above-mentioned, in my opinion, the Council of Europe has, unfortunately, been failing its core mission for decades. Namely, the strengthening of the democratic stability and security in the post-Soviet area. We still are witnessing continuous conflicts and new wars. We have recorded the ethnic cleansings in Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan and that crime has yet to be prosecuted and condemned. We have to recognise that some members themselves have not yet fully adopted the traditions and rules of democracy but with their accession to our organisation, democracy in general began backsliding in Europe.

Dear colleagues, let me be clear any Council of Europe member state has the full right to determine their own national interests and pursue those interests but only in accordance with the founding documents of the Council. Only this approach will help to prevent wars and conflicts, prevent crimes against humanity or serve as a reference point for democratic peace and prosperity. I strongly believe that this organisation will have the potential to continue pursuing its mission of upholding democracy, supporting democratic transitions and the rule of law in its member states if we avoid selective approaches in defending values and human rights.

I conclude by observing that the further unpunished membership of Azerbaijan and Türkiye in the Council of Europe will only meet the ideological demise of this organisation.

Thank you."