EUROPEAN OFFICIAL FOR MORE PRESSURE ON ARMENIANS, AZERIS TO RESOLVE CONFLICT
Interfax, Russia
July 9 2007
Baku, 9 July: The international community "has to step up pressure
on Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict",
the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
[PACE], Rene van der Linden, said at today’s press conference in
Baku. He came to Baku yesterday at the end of his seven-day tour of
the South Caucasus countries.
The PACE head believes that international organizations, including
the Council of Europe, cannot take decisions on behalf of Armenia
or Azerbaijan. "But we can help the two countries to reach peaceful
settlement of the conflict," van der Linden said. He voiced what he
said was "resolute" position of the Council of Europe with regard to
the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict: "The occupied territories have to be
returned; the conflict can only be resolved through negotiations and
dialogue and not through war."
When becoming members of the Council of Europe, Armenia and
Azerbaijan committed themselves to settling the conflict through
political means, he said. "By remaining in the state of conflict
Armenia deprives itself of many prospects, including participation
in regional projects. Therefore, settling the conflict would be
in the interests of Armenia," he added. Responding to questions by
journalists on this topic, Rene van der Linden said that "the Council
of Europe has soft power and does not use sanctions against Armenia",
which continues to occupy 20 per cent of Azerbaijan’s land, "but only
puts pressure on the country so that peaceful settlement is achieved".
Rene van der Linden also voiced support for the recent visit of
Azerbaijani and Armenian intelligentsia to Yerevan, Baku and Nagornyy
Karabakh at the initiative of the ambassadors of the two countries in
Russia. "By all means we support such initiatives. Such contacts – at
the level of citizens, NGOs, students, scholars and artists – create
the basis for tackling the conflict," the PACE official noted. He also
said that at the April session of PACE he himself advocated a visit
to the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict zone of parliamentary delegations
from Azerbaijan and Armenia.