Azerbaijan, Baku, 21 January / Тrend corr I. Alizade / British MP Russell Johnston, the chair of the Subcommittee for Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), will be visiting Azerbaijan on 3 to 4 February.
"The initial date of the visit has been specified and agreed upon," the head of the Azerbaijani permanent delegation to the CE, Samad Seyidov, who is also the chair of the Azerbaijani permanent parliamentary commission for international relations and inter-parliamentary links, said to Trend on 21 January.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
In January 2005, PACE passed Resolution 1416 in connection with the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. The Resolution says that Armenia occupies Azerbaijani territories. It also contains suggestions on settling the conflict.
The PACE Subcommittee for the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, which was established for controlling implementation of the resolution, will hold a meeting during the PACE winter session, which began in Strasburg on 21 January. It will discuss the measures taken for settling the conflict, as well as further steps.
According to Seyidov, the purpose of Johnston's visit to Azerbaijan is to discuss the situation of settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Johnston is expected to meet with the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev , the Speaker of the Parliament, representatives of political parties in Parliament, the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, the Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and other officials of the country.