PACE’S RAPPORTEUR’S VISIT TO REGION POSTPONED AFTER PROTEST BY AZERBAIJAN: PARLIAMENT

TREND Information
Aug 31 2007
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. S.Ilhamgizi / The visit of Edward
O’Hara, PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe)
Rapporteur on the Cultural Heritage in the South Caucasus has been
postponed after Azerbaijan protested it, Azerbaijani Parliament
reported.

The head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, MP Samad Seidov,
explained the official position of Azerbaijan to Mateo Sorinas,
the General Secretary of the organization.

All international organizations recognize the territorial sovereignty
of Azerbaijan, Seidov noted. An international mission can visit the
Azerbaijani occupied territories only on the basis of admission by
official Baku.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 as a result of territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan.

Since 1992, Armenia Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan’s
land including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding
districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire
agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently
holding peaceful negotiations.