Council of Europe has high hopes for solution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

The Council of Europe has high hopes for the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said the Chair of the Committee of Ministers, Micheline Calmy-Rey, Head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, at the PACE spring session, responding to the question by a member of the Azerbaijani delegation Ganira Pashayeva.

"For already over 15 years, more than one million Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons have been deprived of their homelands. These refugees and IDPs are waiting for support to return their homes. These Azerbaijani territories are still under Armenian occupation. As a Chair of the CoE Committee of Ministers, which steps can you take in this regard and in what form can you help them?," said the MP.

"Naturally, the possibility of solving the problem of refugees and IDPs depend firstly on the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, and now the OSCE Minsk Group is making efforts to solve this problem. The Council of Europe expects the solution of this conflict peacefully and very much hopes to help this. After that, even if the issue of refugees and IDPs is not resolved, because this will take time, the solution of this issue can generally be included in the context of conflict solution," said Chair of the Committee of Ministers.

Assessing the recent results on the Armenian-Turkish rapprochement, Calmy-Rey said that the rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia is important for both countries and Europe.

"The Council of Europe regrets for the existing differences between some countries. Statements on the expulsion of Armenians illegally living in Turkey from the country should be made to the frames of complicated process of rapprochement between the two countries. Both sides signed a protocol in Zurich, implying the establishment of new bilateral relations. These countries are also important for Europe. But last week, the Armenian side made signals associated with the process and this must be accepted seriously. It's time to move beyond doubt," said Calmy-Rey. 


/Trend/