The report entitled “Conflict in Nagorno Karabakh”, which was compiled by the PACE rapporteur on Nagorno Karabakh David Atkinson, was adopted at the PACE Winter Session on Tuesday. “Armenia and Azerbaijan should actively submit constructive proposals to each other via the OSCE’s Minsk Group for achieving a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and if that fails, they should consider using the UN’s International Court of Justice”, the Assembly said. (26-JAN-2005)

More than ten years after the conflict began, “considerable parts of the territory of Azerbaijan are still occupied by Armenian forces”, the parliamentarians pointed out – adding that occupation of foreign territory by a member state was a grave violation of that state’s obligations to the Council of Europe.

Appeal
The PACE called on Azerbaijan to establish contacts with the political representatives of both communities from Nagorno-Karabakh, without preconditions, regarding the future status of the region. The Assembly also offered its help in creating a “parliamentary dimension” to the Minsk Process.

Brief history of the conflict
Azerbaijan has lost its control over Nagorno Karabakh and seven adjacent regions to it after the fierce fighting with Armenia. The conflict was frozen by the ceasefire reached on 12 may 1994. As a result of the Armenian aggression more than a million Azerbaijani people turned to be refugees and IDPs and now they all live throughout the country. Majority of the refugees and IDPs have settled in tent camps, unused cargo trains, dug-outs, while some live in student dormitories. At present, twenty percent of Azerbaijani territory is under the Armenian occupation.

Attitude to PACE report
    For Azerbaijan the address of David Atkinson was quite contradictory and unpleasant , it seemed that he was scared by the reaction to his report. So, opening discussing he stated immediately about his neutrality and the necessity of reconciliation of the sides. He called to appoint the experts for working out the status of Nagorno Karabakh.

Atkinson noted that the conflict could be solved in three ways. 
First is military way – when Azerbaijan liberates territories by force. Second – if Nagorno Karabakh remains “independent territory”, beyond Europe and the whole civilized world. And the third variant – settling of the conflict with participation of the international organizations including PACE. However, Atkinson did not answer why the international organizations did not managed to settle the problem and how PACE would do it. He stated that if Azerbaijan liberates its territories by military force it will be excluded from the CE.

World Azerbaijanis Urge PACE to Impose Sanctions on Armenia
The World Azerbaijanis Congress (WAC) has urged the Council of Europe (CE) to impose sanctions on Armenia and deprive the Armenian parliamentarians attending the sessions of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CE of their deputy mandates. The WAC stated in its appeal to the PACE leadership and the member states’ parliaments that “if the CE wants to achieve sustainable peace in the region, it must take unbiased position on the Nagorno Karabakh issue and urge Armenia to implement the UN resolutions and PACE recommendations”.

OSCE mission to visit occupied territories
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs (Russia, USA and France), due to arrive in Baku on January 28 as part of the OSCE fact-finding mission, will head for Azerbaijan’s Khankandi region under Armenian occupation passing through Armenia, Russian co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov said.

The mission representatives will gather in Yerevan, and then leave for Khankandi, along with the OSCE chairman’s special envoy Anjei Kaspshik, Merzlyakov said. The mission’s credentials include looking into the illegal settlement of Armenians in the occupied Azerbaijani lands, but not giving any political assessments.

Deputy Foreign Minister, President’s special envoy on Nagorno Karabakh Araz Azimov regarded the fact the mission will enter occupied Azeri territories from Armenia as “a technical and temporary step”, as there is no other alternative. Azimov added that the mission must guarantee that relocation of Armenians to the occupied Azerbaijani land will stop.

The mission is expected to visit five Azerbaijani regions – Kalbajar, Lachin, Jabrayil, Gubadly and Zangilan – where Armenians were purposefully settled.