Azerbaijan, Baku, March 9 / Trend T.Hajiyev /
The new special representative of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be objective and experienced individual, Azerbaijani Deputy Parliamentary Speaker and head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the OSCE PA Bahar Muradova said in an interview with the official website of the New Azerbaijan Party (NAP).
"The question of appointing a new OSCE PA special representative falls in the competence of the structure's chairman," Muradova said. "Azerbaijan's position in this regard is that the newly appointed representative has to be an objective person."
She said the Azerbaijani delegation mulled the issue during the winter session of the OSCE PA.
"We believe a very experienced and objective person must be appointed to this post. Moreover, both sides, as well as the structure's chairman, should trust the representative," Muradova said.
"The OSCE PA president is expected to visit Baku in May and the new special representative may be appointed on the eve of his visit. I think that this appointment will be specified in the first half of 2011," Muradova added.
Former OSCE PA Special Representative on Nagorno Karabakh and Georgia Goran Lannmarker left the post in November. Lannmarker was not been reelected in the parliamentary elections in Sweden in September and is no longer a member of the OSCE PA.
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 U.S. - 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.