Baku backs Council of Europe’s involvement in Karabakh settlement – official
Turan news agency
26 Nov 04
Baku, 26 November: Azerbaijan is in favour of involving the Venice
Commission of the Council of Europe in preparing the status of
Azerbaijan’s Nagornyy Karabakh region, Deputy Foreign Minister Araz
Azimov told reporters today.
“The Venice Commission has very good rights experts. They could come
up with some suggestions on the issue. However, Armenia is against
this,” Azimov said. He expressed his regret that Azerbaijan’s
proposal to this effect was not accepted during the discussions of
David Atkinson’s report on Karabakh at the political committee of
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE].
Commenting on Azerbaijan’s view of Karabakh’s future, Azimov said that
Baku is ready to grant autonomy to the region. It is up to the central
government to deal with issues related to state attributes, he said.
Azimov said that the region could also be granted economic freedom
and certain administrative independence.