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BAKU: Karabakh Key Topic In European Assembly President's Baku Talks

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  • BAKU: Karabakh Key Topic In European Assembly President's Baku Talks

    KARABAKH KEY TOPIC IN EUROPEAN ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT'S BAKU TALKS

    news.az
    April 15 2010
    Azerbaijan

    Mevlut Cavusoglu Mevlut Cavusoglu, president of the Parliamentary
    Assembly of the Council of Europe, has discussed the Karabakh conflict
    with Azerbaijani leaders.

    Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov received Cavusoglu in Baku
    yesterday, the ministry's press service reported.

    The minister said Azerbaijan was closely cooperating with PACE in a
    number of areas.

    Briefing Cavusoglu on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijani
    conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, Elmar Mammadyarov said that the
    conflict could be solved only within the framework of Azerbaijan's
    territorial integrity. The minister said international attention
    towards Karabakh should be increased and commented on the efforts of
    PACE in this regard.

    Mevlut Cavusoglu said PACE welcomed the democratization process in
    Azerbaijan and would continue to support it. He noted Resolution 1416
    on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict adopted by PACE on 25 January 2005,
    and described the work of the subcommittee on Nagorno-Karabakh as an
    urgent issue in the PACE political committee. He said the subcommittee
    was expected to resume work soon and expressed hope that it would
    have a positive influence on the settlement of the conflict.

    The PACE subcommittee on Nagorno-Karabakh stopped work after the
    death of its chairman, Lord Russell-Johnston, in July 2008.

    Cavusoglu elaborated further on the plans to the revive the Karabakh
    subcommittee at a press conference yesterday. 'As the Council of
    Europe, we have moved forward to establish the subcommittee at the
    Parliamentary Assembly in order to contribute to this peace process.

    We will establish this committee soon and I will head the committee,'
    he said.

    The PACE president's comments on the Karabakh subcommittee were not
    welcomed in Armenia. MP Naira Zohrabyan, a member of the Armenian
    delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,
    said: 'I can certainly catch the implication of his aspiration,
    introduced under pressure from the Azerbaijani lobby. He is seeking to
    shift the Karabakh issue from the OSCE Minsk Group to PACE. However,
    why should the issue be discussed in the Council of Europe, when to
    date the organization has paid almost no attention to human rights
    or elections in Nagorno-Karabakh?'

    Zohrabyan recalled that Cavusoglu had talked about reviving the
    Karabakh subcommittee during the January session of PACE.

    She said that the PACE president had pledged to discuss the issue
    with the heads of the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations during the
    April session. She said that the issue should be discussed with all
    delegation members as she personally had a lot to say on the subject.

    Zohrabyan said that Cavusoglu would probably visit Armenia after the
    April session, which will be held on 26-30 April.

    Later in the day Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received Mevlut
    Cavusoglu. He congratulated him on his election as president of the
    Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, describing it as
    a fair decision. Aliyev hoped that PACE would meet its obligations
    during Mevlut Cavusoglu's presidency.

    Ilham Aliyev welcomed the fact that one of Cavusoglu's first
    visits in his capacity as president was to Azerbaijan. He expressed
    confidence that the visit would contribute to cooperation between
    the Parliamentary Assembly and Azerbaijan.

    Mevlut Cavusoglu thanked President Aliyev for his support for his
    election as PACE president. He said that the Turkish and Azerbaijani
    delegations to PACE had been working well together for many years.

    They also exchanged views on the present state and prospects for
    cooperation between Azerbaijan and PACE.
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