On January 26, PACE approved the resolution entitled "Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water" (rapporteur Milica Markovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina), which sparked heated debates in the Parliament of Armenia.
Levon Zurabyan, the head of the Armenian National Congress opposition faction blamed the Armenian delegates to PACE for idleness. He called the resolution as of the Armenia's most shameful defeats at PACE, as it calls Armenia an occupant and actions of which have resulted in a humanitarian disaster. In this light, Zurabyan suggested holding post factum discussions to prevent such serious problems in the future.
Republican MP Samvel Farmanyan, in turn, said the discussions and voting at PACE must become a reason for thoughts. At the same time, he said, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's allegations against the EU for applying double standards and showing biased attitude towards Armenia is the best assessment of the Armenian side's work. He said only one of the delegations to PACE voted for adoption of the anti- Armenian resolutions. It was the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) where Armenia was represented by ANC and, particularly, Levon Zurabyan. "It is not an accusation, but we need to work together and not rattle the saber," he said. Parliament Vice Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov supported the given statement.
In response, Zurabyan said that ALDE officially applied to the PACE leadership over wrong translation of the speech of their representative at the discussions.
On January 26, PACE approved the resolution entitled "Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water" (rapporteur Milica Markovic, Bosnia and Herzegovina). 98 MPs voted for, 71 MPs voted against and 40 MPs abstained from voting. On the same day, PACE rejected the anti- Armenian resolution "Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan" (rapporteur Robert Walter, UK).