PACE body on Garabagh to resume ops
The work of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe subcommittee on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper
(Nagorno) Garabagh conflict will be resumed, PACE President Lluis
Maria de Puig has said.
The statement came at a news conference dedicated to the start of the assembly`s winter session.
The subcommittee was established to reaffirm PACE`s previous resolution on the long-standing dispute passed in 2003.
The document confirmed that Armenia has been occupying part of Azerbaijan`s territory. The subcommittee has been inactive since its first chairman, British MP Lord Russell-Johnston, died in mid-2008.
Puig noted that a new chairman of the subcommittee has yet to be selected, but this issue, along with ways of resuming the organization`s activity, is currently on the assembly`s agenda.
He went on to say that PACE was prepared to make proposals to reach a solution to the Garabagh problem.
"The Council of Europe will attempt to find a way out of the current situation concerning the conflict and come up with proposals. But first of all, the parties have to come to an agreement to resolve the dispute," he said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus republics reared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia`s territorial claims.
Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan`s internationally-recognized territory since the early 1990s in defiance of international law.
The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks have so far been fruitless.
The statement came at a news conference dedicated to the start of the assembly`s winter session.
The subcommittee was established to reaffirm PACE`s previous resolution on the long-standing dispute passed in 2003.
The document confirmed that Armenia has been occupying part of Azerbaijan`s territory. The subcommittee has been inactive since its first chairman, British MP Lord Russell-Johnston, died in mid-2008.
Puig noted that a new chairman of the subcommittee has yet to be selected, but this issue, along with ways of resuming the organization`s activity, is currently on the assembly`s agenda.
He went on to say that PACE was prepared to make proposals to reach a solution to the Garabagh problem.
"The Council of Europe will attempt to find a way out of the current situation concerning the conflict and come up with proposals. But first of all, the parties have to come to an agreement to resolve the dispute," he said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus republics reared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia`s territorial claims.
Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan`s internationally-recognized territory since the early 1990s in defiance of international law.
The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks have so far been fruitless.
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