PACE BUREAU TO DISCUSS APPOINTMENT OF CHAIRMAN OF AD HOC COMMITTEE ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT
Trend News Agency
Sept 1 2008
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, Baku, 1 September / Trend News corr. I.Alizade / A new
chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s
(PACE) Ad Hoc Committee on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict may be appointed
at a meeting of the PACE Bureau to be held in Paris on 5 September.
"Appointment of the new chairman of the PACE Ad Hoc Committee on
Nagorno-Karabakh will be discussed at the Bureau’s meeting," Arif
Mammadov, the Azerbaijani permanent envoy at the CE, told Trend News
over telephone from Strasburg on 1 September.
PACE adopted resolution 1416 in January 2005 concerning the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The resolution states that Armenia has
occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land, including Nagorno-Karabakh
region, and should immediately withdraw its troops from the occupied
territories, refugees should be repatriated and the conflict should
be solved only through the peaceable way.
The subcommittee has been established to exercise control over the
implementation of the Resolution and to assist in solution of the
conflict. Lord Russell Johnston, a British MP and the chairman of
the PACE Ad Hoc Committee on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, passed
away several months ago.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and Khojali, in December
1991. In 1992-1993, the Armenian Armed Forces occupied Shusha,
Khojali and seven regions attached to Nagorno-Karabakh. In 1994,
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement and the sides
continue peace negotiations.
The OSCE Minsk Group, including co-chairmen from three countries – USA,
Russia, France, are mediating in the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict through peaceable way.
During the meeting members of the Bureau will be informed about the
death of the Ad Hoc Committee chairman and vacancy for the position of
chairman, Samad Seyidov, the chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliament’s
standing commission on international and inter-parliamentary
relations and the head of the Azerbaijani Delegation at the PACE,
told Trend News.
"Firstly, appointment of new chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee should
be discussed at the PACE Political Committee," Seyidov said.