Azerbaijan believes the fact that Armenia has been allowed to host the event is further proof that the institutions of Europe are shielding Armenia from responsibility for its continued illegal occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories.

The chairman of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Euronest PA, Elkhan Suleymanov, said Armenia has effectively disqualified itself from further European involvement after signing up to the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). In light of this, he said, "the fact that the plenary session of the Euronest PA will be held in this country in such a situation proves the approval (by Europe) for Armenia's political decisions."

But, he stressed, the EEU membership issue is secondary to the fact that the institutions of Europe, including Euronest, have washed their hands of their responsibility to hold Armenia to account for its actions.

"We always faced the situation whereby Euronest PA is not an institution able to solve the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

"This organization keeps Armenia under its umbrella and attempts to insure Armenia against any sanctions and responsibility for its aggressive criminal actions against Azerbaijan," he said.

Armenia recently became a member of the EEU, which also include Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Observers say Armenia's decision to join despite massive protests at home is a sign of the debt it owes to Moscow for decades of both financial and military support that makes the Nagorno-Karabakh occupation sustainable.

The more than two-decade long occupation continues today despite resolutions calling for Armenia's immediate withdrawal from the United Nations, European

Parliament, the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and other international institutions.

The Euronest session in Yerevan, which takes place between March 16 and 18, is set to be discussed at a bureau meeting of the Euronest PA in Strasbourg this week.