Ahead of the COP29 climate summit, Azerbaijan has banned several dozen PACE deputies from entering the country. Baku explained that those deputies voted in favor of limiting the powers of the Azerbaijani delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan announced that 76 politicians from 26 European countries will be deprived of the right to enter the country. The decision was taken after the vote held in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in January, as a result of which in 2024 Azerbaijan has been deprived of the right to vote. Social democrat Frank Schwabe, the head of the German delegation to the PACE, stated that Azerbaijan did not fulfill its obligations to the PACE, Baku was also criticized for arresting activists and journalists in the fall of 2023.

 

Schwabe submitted an application to participate in the COP29 as part of the German delegation, but he was informed that, like all the deputies who voted for the resolution in the PACE, he was declared a “personae non gratae” in Azerbaijan.

 

The chairman of the Swedish delegation to the PACE, Markus Vihel, told Blankspot that he was not surprised by Azerbaijan’s decision.

 

“This was completely expected and inevitable. I have been criticizing the Azerbaijani dictatorship and its actions against Nagorno-Karabakh for a long time. I am glad that all present Swedes voted in favor, and I do not regret it at all,” Vihel said.

 

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizada stated that the entry of PACE deputies will be prohibited until the powers of the Azerbaijani delegation are fully restored in the structure.