France, Strasburg, 16 April / Trend corr. A.Maharramli, I.Alizadeh / Yan Kubis, the Chairman of Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, stated that the AGO group of Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe paid visits to Azerbaijan and Armenia from 3 March to 4 April in order to assess whether the obligations taken by the countries before the Council of Europe, during the PACE spring session on the Southern Caucasus, have been fulfilled. The main issue of the discussions was the Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts and finding possible solution of the conflict.
During the visit to Armenia, AGO paid their more attention on the developments that took place in the country after 1March from the point of view of democracy values and legal government, encouraged by the Council of Europe. The key topic for discussions was restoration of the dialogue among all the interested sides and continuation of the reformations in Armenia. Kubis and AGO group called the Armenian Government to respect human rights, democracy and legal state. He mentioned about the aid rendered to the country in this sphere.
The key topic of the discussions during AGO's visit to Azerbaijan was the presidential elections, which will be held in October 2008, as well as Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, freedom of speech and press and issues concerning the political prisoners. According to Kubis, nobody should be detained for what he had written. "We hope that the issue on three detained journalists would be settled positively. I will discuss this issue with the Government during my next visit to the country in the end of April," he stated,
AGO group was established in January 2001 and is responsible for monitoring Azerbaijan and Armenia's fulfillment of their respective commitments to the Council Europe.