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Chairman of CE Committee of Ministers Jan Kubish: â€œI will be on a visit to Azerbaijan next weekâ€

15 April 2008 17:17 (UTC +04:00)

APAâ€™s Europe bureau reports that Azerbaijani MP mentions in her questionnaire that during the presidential elections in Armenia, polling stations were established in the occupied Azerbaijani territories â€“ Nagorno Karabakh, Lachin and Kalbajar regions and says that official Yerevan violated international legal norms again and once more showed its disobedience to the commitment on peaceful settlement of the conflict undertaken vis-Ã -vis the Council of Europe. She says that seeing severe reaction of the international organizations and the public to the state of emergency announced in the country soon after the elections Armenian leadership violated ceasefire in order to divert the attention.
Ganira Pashayeva said that after the inauguration of Armenian president, discussions were held in the countryâ€™s parliament, where it was noted that official Yerevan would only agree to the independence of Nagorno Karabakh, or its unification to Armenia. It shows once more that Armenia ignores international legal principles, such as countriesâ€™ territorial integrity, resolutions of UN, PACE and other international organizations and commitment undertaken to the Council of Europe.
â€œAre you, as Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, concerned over Armeniaâ€™s actions taken to tense the situation, instead of solving Nagorno Karabakh conflict? What steps are you going to take in this direction?â€ she asks.
Chairman of CE Committee of Ministers Jan Kubish in response to the questionnaire said that on admission to the Council of Europe both Armenia and Azerbaijan had undertaken commitment on the peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
â€œThatâ€™s why I consider that both countries should avoid the statements that may damage peace negotiations conducted within the framework of OSCE Minsk Group. I hope that Azerbaijan and Armenia will soon reach an agreement owing to the process of negotiations. Dialogue, mutual understanding and confidence between Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples are very important in order to reach this goal. Of course, this is the duty of the two countriesâ€™ leaderships to help this. As regards our assistance, I can mention the conference was organized by the Swiss Government with the participation of the representatives of Azerbaijani and Armenian civil societies last year. I will be on a visit to Azerbaijan next week and have discussions on this issue. If necessary, I can contribute to this, using the experience I gained while working in OSCEâ€, he said.