On May 25, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Ara Aivazian received Director of the Office of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Verena Taylor and the newly appointed Head of the Council of Europe Office in Armenia Martina Schmidt.
Expressing gratitude for the meeting, the Director of the Office of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe handed over to the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia the original letter of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on appointing Martina Schmidt Head of the Council of Europe Office.
The Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia congratulated Martina Schmidt on assuming the important mission of the Head of the Office of the Council of Europe in the Republic of Armenia, expressing confidence that new achievements will be registered through continuous cooperation with the relevant departments of the Republic of Armenia.
Speaking about the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s membership in the Council of Europe, Ara Aivazian used the rich agenda of cooperation with the Council of Europe, emphasizing the importance of the Armenia-CoE 2019-2022 Action Plan for the ongoing implementation of reforms and the strengthening of democracy in the country.
Armenia’s Acting Foreign Minister referred to the situation in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) after the recent war unleashed by Azerbaijan. In this context, Aivazian noted that the Republic of Armenia reserves the important role of the Council of Europe in addressing humanitarian issues in Artsakh, including deportation, destruction of cultural and religious monuments, ongoing hostage-taking of prisoners of war and civilians held in Azerbaijan, as well as protection of inalienable human rights.
The Acting Foreign Minister drew the interlocutors’ attention to the need to ensure unimpeded access to Artsakh by specialized representatives of international specialized organizations, including Council of Europe structures, emphasizing the inadmissibility of Azerbaijan’s obstruction in this regard. The Acting Minister specifically emphasized the implementation of interim decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on Armenian prisoners of war.
