BAKU. Aug 26 (Interfax) - Baku has banned the admission of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) members who voted against ratification of the Azerbaijani delegation's credentials in the institution.
"Persons who voted against the Azerbaijani delegation to the PACE have been listed as undesirable. Should such persons arrive in Azerbaijan before our delegation's credentials are reinstated in the PACE, they will be denied admission to the national territory," Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizada said.
He thus responded to the criticism by head of the German delegation to the PACE Frank Schwabe who accused Baku of the reluctance to remain a member of the Council of Europe but said he was planning to attend the COP29 international climate conference in Azerbaijan in November.
"The comments by Frank Schwabe, whose is mentioned in connection with several cases of corruption and shadowy business dealings, on Azerbaijan and the national leadership show what a biased, false and hypocritical politician this person is," Hajizada said.
Schwabe knows well that the only reason why PACE representatives were not invited to observe parliamentary elections (of September 1) is that the Azerbaijani delegation's credentials have not been reinstated despite promises given to Azerbaijan at the political level, including by German officials, he said.
"While expressing concern about Azerbaijani-Russian relations, Schwabe should have mentioned people in Germany and the PACE cooperating with Russia and Russia's company Gazprom even now," he said.
Azerbaijan is committed to its international obligations and understands them well, Hajizada said. "Yet we have to stress once again that these obligations cannot be fulfilled on the sole basis of unilateral, double standards, and their abuse and a biased attitude to our country are inadmissible," Hajizada said.
The Azerbaijani delegation suspended its work at the PACE in late January to protest the questioning of its credentials. Baku accused the institution of racism, Azerbaijanophobia and Islamophobia. Prior to that, the PACE refused to confirm credentials of the Azerbaijani delegation.