Azeri diplomat urges Armenian delegation to join Karabakh conflict discussions at PACE

The most important issue for Azerbaijan is to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, head of the Azerbaijani Delegation to the PACE Samad Seyidov said on Monday on the first working day of the PACE spring session.

"I am grateful to PACE chairman Jean-Claude Mignon for the initiative to organize a meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations represented in this structure for discussions on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the near future," he said.

As a PACE member, the Azerbaijani delegation has always supported such contacts, meetings and discussions with the Armenian delegation on the issue, Seyidov said.

"Unfortunately, the Armenian delegation has rejected for two years all kinds of contacts with our delegation to discuss such important issue as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Given the PACE chairman's initiative for a meeting, I believe that we are able to create such a format in which we are interested - the Azerbaijanis and Armenians - and the EU," the head of the Azerbaijani delegation said.

It is necessary to solve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he stressed. "To do this we must do our best. We may use such means as negotiations, dialogue and debate. We invite the Armenian delegation to participate in these discussions," Seyidov said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France and the U.S. - are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.


/Trend/