Azernews.Az

STRASBOURG – Armenian lawmakers intend to boycott resuming the work of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe subcommittee on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict during its upcoming winter session, a member of Armenia’s PACE delegation said.

Naira Zograbyan told reporters that PACE President, Turkish lawmaker Mevlut Cavusoglu and members of Azerbaijan’s delegation have made statements that they would do their best for a final approval of the subcommittee’s reinstatement during the PACE session, which begins on January 24.

The subcommittee on the Karabakh conflict was established in 2005, but its activity was suspended in 2009 due to the death of the subcommittee chairman Lord Russell Johnston. Cavusoglu, after being elected president of PACE, offered to resume its activity.

Zograbyan said Yerevan deems as unacceptable any format of peace talks other than the OSCE Minsk Group.

"Even if Cavusoglu manages to do this de jure, the Armenian side should boycott and not be involved in this subcommittee’s work. Let Cavusoglu meet with the Azerbaijani delegates and discuss the Karabakh issue [on his own]," Zograbyan said.

She noted that Turkey assumed chairmanship in the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on November 10, with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu acting as chairman, and PACE is presided by Cavusoglu.

"The Davutoglu-Cavusoglu duo will do everything it can to advance certain causes within the interests of the Turkish and Azerbaijani lobbies," Zograbyan alleged.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994. Armenian armed forces have since occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno Karabakh, defying international calls and UN resolutions. Peace talks, brokered by the United States, Russia and France through the Minsk Group, have been largely fruitless so far.