The Azerbaijani President's foreign relations chief Novruz Mammadov condemned the Council of Europe's position on the country's democratic institutions and the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.
Novruz suggested that the organization's positions on the issues could make Azerbaijan leave the Council of Europe. On Tuesday, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) condemned what it called Azerbaijan's "systemic repression" of activists and government critics.
"Along with some bodies of the European Union, PACE also demonstrates that international law is of no significance, the principle of “we want everything our way” prevails," Mammadov tweeted.
The resolution also removed the term "occupation" from its description of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Azerbaijan considers its Nagorno-Karabakh region occupied by Armenia.
Such a position displayed by the Council of Europe questions #Azerbaijan’s future membership in this organization. @coe @Europarl_EN
— Novruz Məmmədov (@NovruzMammadov) June 25, 2015
The Council of Europe is the only body in which officials from both EU member states and other European countries meet. PACE is the organization's interparliamentary council which meets four times a year to make non-binding resolutions. Its decisions are seen in the media of countries such as Azerbaijan as indicators of European countries' political positions.
