Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend I.Alizade / The Head of the Azerbaijani delegation of PACE and Chairman of the Azerbaijan Parliament's Permanent Commission for Inter-Parliamentary and International Relations, Samad Seyidov, said that Armenia delayed the visit of the Rapporteur of the PACE Cultural, Education and Scientific Committee for the study of the cultural heritage in South Caucasus, Edward O'Hara.
He stressed that the direction of the visit had already been specified. Firstly O'Hara will leave for Armenia to study the condition of Azerbaijani and Georgian cultural monuments. Thereafter, he should depart to Georgia to study the condition of Azerbaijani and Armenian monuments. He will come to Azerbaijan from Georgia and leave for the Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied regions of Azerbaijan, as well as visit Nakchivan Autonomous Republic.
"However, Armenian delayed O'Hara's visit under the pretence of parliamentary elections in Armenia on 12 April because O'Hara's study is not useful to Armenia due to the destruction of Azerbaijani monuments in Armenia and in occupied Azerbaijani lands," Seyidov said. He stressed that a special mission has been established by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis, to study the cultural heritage of South Caucasus. However, the visits of these missions were annulled due to obstacles imposed by Armenia. Consent of each of the three South Caucasus countries was required to realize the visit. The Head of the Azerbaijani delegation said that Azerbaijan is interested in the visit of O'Hara and mission to the region.
Azerbaijan is open to all rapporteurs. "We are interested in the visit of the mission established by Terry Davis because the mission includes strong experts," he said.