YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 9, ARTSAKHPRESS. President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola expressed “strong disapproval” of the statements made in the Azerbaijani Parliament (Milli Majlis) by the Co-Chair of the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC) Tural Ganjaliyev on 20 December 2022.
Roberta Metsola wrote a letter to Speaker of Parliament of Azerbaijan Sahiba Gafarova over the matter.
The letter was published by Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Partnership Committee, the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee and the EU-Georgia Parliamentary Association Committee Marina Kaljurand. Ganjaliyev had re-tweeted an article with a direct personal attack against Marina Kaljurand, falsely accusing her of corrupt practices.
“Recalling the excellent cooperation established between our parliaments over the years, I am writing to express my strong disapproval of the statements made in the Azerbaijani Parliament by the Co-Chair of the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC), Mr Tural Ganjaliyev, on 20 December 2022.
As reported by Azerbaijani media, Mr Ganjaliyev accused the European Parliament of having “established a mechanism for financing Members of the European Parliament through corruption”. Without presenting any basis for his accusations, he claimed that “income obtained from looted gold deposits” in Nagorno-Karabakh “goes into the pockets” of Members critical of Azerbaijan’s actions. He also re-tweeted an article with a direct personal attack against the European Parliament Co-Chair of the EU-Azerbaijan PCC, Ms Marina Kaljurand, falsely accusing her of corrupt practices.
The European Parliament is committed to continue building good relations with the Milli Majlis, in the spirit of mutual respect. This may include – and often does – constructive criticism, which should however be based on facts and not on unsubstantiated and slanderous claims.
For this reason, I would be grateful if you could take all possible steps to avoid that similar incidents happen again in the future,” the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola wrote in the letter addressed to Speaker of Parliament of Azerbaijan Sahiba Gafarova.
