The PACE refused to ratify the credentials of its Azerbaijani members in a resolution adopted late on Wednesday. It said Baku has failed to fulfill “major commitments” to the Council of Europe and still has a poor human rights record.
The PACE also pointed to its two earlier resolutions that condemned the Azerbaijani blockade of the Lachin corridor and the September 19-20 military offensive that restored Azerbaijani control over Karabakh and forced the region’s population to flee to Armenia. It said “allegations of ‘ethnic cleansing’ cannot be unaddressed by the Assembly.”
In anticipation of that decision, Azerbaijan said earlier on Wednesday that it will “cease its engagement with and presence at the PACE until further notice.” The Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation in Strasbourg accused the PACE of exhibiting “Azerbaijanophobia and Islamophobia” and creating an “unbearable atmosphere” in the organization.
The PACE decision came two days after the European Union expressed serious concern at what its foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, described as territorial claims to Armenia made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Borrell warned that any violation of Armenia’s territorial integrity would have “severe consequences for our relations with Azerbaijan.” The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry rejected the warning, accusing the chief EU diplomat of “blatant misinterpretation of facts.”
Aliyev on January 10 rejected a proposal by Armenia to use Soviet-era maps drawn in the 1970s to delineate the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, claiming that Azerbaijani territories had been handed to Armenia by the Soviet authorities. Yerevan said this and other comments made by Aliyev undermined prospects for a peace treaty between the two South Caucasus nations.