Strasbourg - Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) President Mevlut Cavusoglu has said he is planning to meet with Yevheniya Carr, the daughter of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryschenko.
Cavusoglu announced this at a press conference in Strasbourg on Monday ahead of the plenary session of the (PACE), when asked by an Interfax-Ukraine reporter. He also said the issue of an urgent debate on Ukraine at the PACE has not yet been resolved.
He said that an invitation to Tymoshenko’s daughter had been sent by the Group of the European People’s Party, which was initially addressed to the deputy leader of the Batkivschyna Party, Hryhoriy Nemyria. After that, it was also decided that Carr would accompany Nemyria to Strasbourg.
"They asked me about the meeting, and I’m planning to meet with them in my office," Cavusoglu said.
While speaking on the holding of an urgent debate on Ukraine at the PACE, Cavusoglu said that this initiative had been put forward by the European People’s Party, but it was not approved at a meeting of the PACE bureau on Monday. However, he did not rule out that this issue would be raised again at the plenary session during the discussion of the session’s agenda.
Cavusoglu said that the bureau had not proposed including the Ukrainian issue due to the fact that it will be discussed "on various platforms" – during the discussion of a report on Ukraine and during Hryschenko’s speech.
"Therefore, it was decided not to propose holding such a discussion, but a final decision will be made by the Parliamentary Assembly," he said.
He also said that he planned to meet with the Ukrainian foreign minister.
Cavusoglu said he hoped that amendments tabled in the Verkhovna Rada, regarding the decriminalization of the article under which Tymoshenko has been charged, would be approved.
