Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan is preparing to chair the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe after Andorra and Austria, head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE Samad Seyidov said at a meeting with a senior Council of Europe official in Baku on Tuesday.

Hosting a delegation headed by CoE Deputy Secretary General Gabriela Battaini-Dragoni, Seyidov said the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE has always been active, brought the position and problems facing the country to the attention of the organization and will continue to do so in the future.

"Resolution No. 1416 on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, adopted by the organization in 2005, is a success of the two sides," Seyidov said.

He said Azerbaijan is the only member of the Council of Europe, which has 20 percent of its territory occupied and one million people driven from their homes, referring to the land occupied by neighboring Armenia since the 1990s war and the Azerbaijani citizens displaced during the armed conflict.

"Unfortunately, ... some representatives of international organizations take a biased position against our country. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not only a problem of Azerbaijan, but also a problem of the Council of Europe, and it has a negative impact on the image of the organization," Seyidov said.

Battaini-Dragoni noted Azerbaijan's special role in the EU's European Neighbourhood Policy and the promotion of intercultural dialogue. She stressed the importance of the CoE Action Plan on Azerbaijan and of the CoE projects implemented jointly with the Baku office.