CoE rejects passive position on Nagorno-Karabakh

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

The Council of Europe has rejected an opinion that it retains a passive position on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Igor Crnadak, the foreign minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the new chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the CoE, made the preceding remark at the PACE summer session on June 22, responding to a question posed by Azerbaijani delegation member Rafael Huseynov regarding the occupation of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia and its consequences.

“I assure you that the CoE does not take a position of passive observer with respect to the results of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We know about the rights of those who suffer from the consequences caused by this conflict. They, as well as other inhabitants of the continent, should enjoy equal rights. This is the reality,” Crnadak said.

He noted that this in turn requires a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by political means within the mediation framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.

“As chairman of the CoE Cabinet of Ministers, I call on both sides to a compromise to resolve the conflict,” Crnadak said.

During the session, Rafael Huseynov urged PACE to impose sanctions against Armenia.

PACE Resolution 1416, adopted in 2005, reiterated that "the occupation of foreign territory by a member state constitutes a grave violation of that state's obligations as a member of the Council of Europe," and demanded the unconditional withdrawal of troops from the occupied territories.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor, causing a lengthy war in the early 1990s.

Peace talks brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs representing the United States, Russia and France have been largely fruitless so far.

The negotiations are underway on the basis of the peace outline dubbed the Madrid Principles, also known as the Basic Principles. The document envisions a return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; determining the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh; a corridor linking Armenia to the region; and the right of all internally displaced persons to return home.