France, Strasbourg, Jan. 28 /Trend, A.Maharramli/
Resuming the activities of the PACE ad hoc committee on Nagorno-Karabakh will play an important role in settling the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"Activities of the ad hoc committee on Nagorno-Karabakh in the PACE Bureau will play an important role in presenting to the world the truth about Azerbaijan, and we will do our best for this," the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE, MP Samed Seyidov told reporters.
After the discussions the Bureau decided to resume the ad hoc committee's activity and Spanish parliamentarian from Liberal Party Jordi Xucla i Costa was elected the chairman of the committee.
After the death of the chairman of the sub-committee Lord Russell-Johnston, the activity of this organization was suspended about a year ago. During the summer session of PACE, which began June 21, 2010, the representatives of Azerbaijan and Armenia met and discussed the issue of resuming the ad hoc committee. However, because of the unconstructive position of Armenia, the activities of the ad hoc committee had not been restored.
According to Seyidov, the ad hoc committee will include co-rapporteurs for both countries, as well as members of delegations of Azerbaijan and Armenia in PACE from both government and opposition.
According to Seyidov, the Bureau discussed only the issue of resuming the activities of the ad hoc committee.
The agenda of the April session of PACE will include the issues on the formation and activities of the ad hoc committee, said Seyidov.
According to the MP, the basis of establishing ad hoc committee was laid at a time when the head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE was the current President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
"The initiative of developing Resolution 1416 was made by President Ilham Aliyev at the time when he was head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PACE. The first paragraph of the Resolution was connected with the creation of the ad hoc committee on Nagorno-Karabakh. The committee was established and functioned in that period, and its activities yielded results. However, after the death of Lord Russell Johnson, Armenia made great efforts to suspend its activities, break the ad hoc committee and recognize it as unnecessary. But we, in turn, fought and declared our position. We made much efforts to create the ad hoc committee," Seyidov said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the United States - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.