President to meet French leader, deliver speech at PACE fall sessionSeptember 30, 2013 - 16:28 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan left for France to attend the PACE fall session in Strasbourg. Meetings with French leader Francois Hollande and Senate President Jean-Pierre Bel are on Sargsyan’s agenda. The Armenian leader will also meet PACE President Jean-Claude Mignon, Council of Europe Secretary Thorbjorn Jagland and Coe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks October 2 in Strasbourg. On the same day, the President will deliver a speech at a PACE session to be followed by a Q&A session. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will hold rush debates on Syria October 3, Thursday. Alexey Pushkov, head of the Russian delegation to PACE, told journalists that “as expected, PACE has made a decision to hold rush debates on Syria,” adding that the Assembly will adopt a resolution on the Syrian issue. “Syria is a key issue in world politics and, undoubtedly, PACE has to adopt its own resolution,” Pushkov previously said. The Russian lawmaker believes that there has been a major “evolution on the Syrian issue” in Strasbourg. “Two years ago the dominating point of view saw the military conflict as a democratic revolution, people fighting a tyrant; but now the point of view changed to align with Russia’s arguments,” he said. Pushkov said that during the previous session of the Assembly Bureau in Croatia, lawmakers agreed that the Syrian problem required a political solution, not military intervention, noting that using chemical weapons was impermissible by any side of the conflict. Related links: Top stories The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Michael Roth believes sanctions must be put on the table after Baku‘s ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Yerevan City Council has elected Tigran Avniyan from the ruling Civil Contract as the mayor of the Armenian capital. The Armenian Parliament on Tuesday, October 3 voted to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Partner news | European Parliament to discuss repression in Azerbaijan The European Parliament will discuss repression of civil society in Azerbaijan on April 24 PACE wants concessions from Azerbaijan to accept Baku back A PACE co-rapporteur said that Azerbaijani authorities must make certain concessions so that the country can return to PACE. Cyprus parliament honors Armenian genocide victims Acting House President Zacharias Koulias noted that April 24 marks the “black anniversary” of the Armenian genocide. Azerbaijan razes historic Armenian church to ground Azerbaijan has demolished the historic Armenian Church of St. John the Baptist (known as Kanach Zham). |