Goran Lindblad Accuses Me Because He is an Azerbaijan Lobbyist, Says Armenian MP

Former Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) member and former co-rapporteur for Armenia Göran Lindblad accused me of bribing him because he has lobbying considerations, said head of Armenia’s delegation to PACE Davit Harutyunyan (pictured), in a televised interview Wednesday on Armenia’s Public Television in response to Lindblad’s statements, made to Epress.am, that Harutyunyan attempted to “buy him.”

Note, prior to the televised interview, Harutyunyan, in a separate interview given to a local news site, called Lindblad’s accusation a lie.

On television, the Armenian MP said the issue was raised at a meeting he initiated. He stressed that the Parliamentary Assembly needs to adopt rules restricting lobbying, since several deputies — for example, Lindblad — clearly engage in lobbying for Azerbaijan.

“At the meeting, Lindblad confessed that he was hired by the organization European Friends of Azerbaijan; he works for them full-time and is their lobbyist in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in order to suppress Armenia’s efforts. At one time, he was appointed co-rapporteur for Armenia, which all the members of Armenia’s delegation [to PACE] were against. I invited him to lunch to explain the reason for being against [the appointment] and during lunch I discovered that Lindblad also represents Turkey’s interests — as president of the Sweden-Turkey Friendship Council,” said Harutyunyan.