HEAD OF PACE SUBCOMMITTEE FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH: AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIAN SHOULD LAUNCH A GENERAL DIALOGUE
Author: A. Mammadova

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Nov 30 2006

"I think that it is extremely important for the two countries,
which have been in a serious dispute since the end of the war, to
start talking with each other, apart from the existing contact which
continues at a presidential level, as the meeting that recently
took place between President Ilham Aliyev and President Robert
Kocharyan", Lord Russell Johnston, Chairman of the Special Committee
for Nagorno-Karabakh of PACE, has exclusively told Trend today.

According to Lord Russell Johnston, the meeting between Azerbaijani and
Armenian MP’s is expected to be held under his chairmanship during the
session of PACE to be held in Strasburg at the end of January, 2007.

The Chairman of the PACE Subcommittee said that their first exercise
should be getting to know each other. "It is not necessary to tackle
big serious questions straight away. My objective is not suddenly
and magically to cure everything. That is not possible. But simply to
create a better atmosphere and then discuss the areas where possibly
one can pursue a dialogue, like, for example, the transport connection
issue", he said.

He also said that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict could be settled only
by the Governments of the countries involved in the conflict, and
the task of the Subcommittee is to pave a way. "But I think that it
is extremely important to launch a general dialogue. On the one hand,
if there is a settlement of the issue, then it should occur after the
both parties making some concessions to each other. However, none of
the parties is ready to make a compromise. Therefore, the only
thing that could be done is to begin to talk to each other", said
Mr. Russell Johnston.