Nagorno-Karabakh conflict really disturbs Europe, says PACE president

/By AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict disturbs Europe since it concerns citizens who are accepted as part of the European family, said a top European official.

President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Anne Brasseur said that negotiations are the only way out of the locked conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should really disturb Europe. Because it regards citizens who are members of the European family of 47 member nations in the Council of Europe. Dialogue is the only way to find a solution," she said.

Brasseur added that PACE would criticize any move attempting to use violent measures. "Hostilities should never be the answer to any action," she noted.

For making a modest contribution to the conflict's settlement, she said, PACE is developing a report on Nagorno-Karabakh.

"This document will not be interference to OSCE Minsk Group's brokering involvement. It will act as a boost to the conflict's resolution rather than an instruct," Brasseur noted.

PACE president in addition urged the Armenian delegation to PACE to join the process for achieving a balanced report.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's settlement was on the agenda of the latest PACE session on April 8, when Brasseur said dialogue should be facilitated for settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"I will keep on the parliamentary diplomacy, since a very serious conflict is going on. It is necessary to seize every opportunity for holding negotiations. I will try to convince the leaders of the Azerbaijani and Armenian delegations to hold joint meetings," she said.

Baku's diligence in view of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is well seen in the international arena, however it is yet to receive the relevant feedback from Yerevan.

Azerbaijan's internationally recognized Nagorno-Karabakh territory was turned into a battlefield and zone of aggravated tensions after Armenia sent its troops to occupy Azerbaijan's lands in the early 1990s. As a result, 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory stands under military occupation of Armenia.

For the past two decades, and despite calls from the international community, Armenia has refused to withdraw its troops and retreat within its national borders.