COUNCIL OF EUROPE HEAD SAYS KARABAKH CONFLICT TO BE SETTLED PEACEFULLY

ArmInfo News Agency in Russian
July 24 2008
Armenia

The Council of Europe sees settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict in the framework of international law and exclusively in
a peaceful way, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe [PACE], Lluis Maria de Puig, has said at a meeting
with the Armenian delegation to the Assembly.

The PACE’s president said that he recognizes both the principle of
the territorial integrity of states and the right of nations for
self-determination. "Notwithstanding that the Council of Europe did
not play an essential role in the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict, it can, upon necessity, make its contribution to organize a
dialogue at the level of meetings between MPs of the two countries,"
the PACE’s president said. He added that he considers it necessary to
provide full assistance to the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group on
settlement of the Karabakh conflict, which, as he put, "makes great
efforts to this end".