Written declaration No. 439 | Doc. 12218 | 27 April 2010

Need to eliminate activities preventing a peaceful resolution of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Signatories: Mr Rafael HUSEYNOV, Azerbaijan, ALDE ; Mr Aydin ABBASOV, Azerbaijan, SOC ; Ms Maryvonne BLONDIN, France, SOC ; Mr Joseph DEBONO GRECH, Malta, SOC ; Mr Arcadio DÍAZ TEJERA, Spain, SOC ; Mr Paolo GIARETTA, Italy, ALDE ; Ms Ana GUŢU, Republic of Moldova, ALDE ; Mr Sabir HAJIYEV, Azerbaijan, SOC ; Ms Kateřina JACQUES, Czech Republic ; Mr Michael Aastrup JENSEN, Denmark, ALDE ; Mr Bernard MARQUET, Monaco, ALDE ; Mr Pier Marino MULARONI, San Marino, ALDE ; Mr Fritz NEUGEBAUER, Austria, EPP/CD ; Mr Jørgen POULSEN, Denmark, ALDE ; Mr Andrea RIGONI, Italy, ALDE ; Mr Amadeu ROSSELL TARRADELLAS, Andorra, ALDE ; Mr Samad SEYIDOV, Azerbaijan, EDG ; Mr Scott SIMMS, Canada ; Mr Yevgeniy SUSLOV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Ms Elke TINDEMANS, Belgium ; Mr Joan TORRES PUIG, Andorra, ALDE ; Mr Andrej ZERNOVSKI, ''The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia'', ALDE

This written declaration commits only those who have signed it.

Resolution of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan through diplomatic means is one of the important issues which the Council of Europe is endeavouring to settle.

The Parliamentary Assembly showed that it took this problem seriously when it adopted Resolution 1416 (2005) calling on the countries to make use of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Nevertheless, unlawful actions are carried out from time to time which deepen the distrust between the sides and prevent progress.

One such destructive action is the intended holding by the separatist Nagorno-Karabakh regime of so-called parliamentary elections.

In the light of the positive factor that the Catholicos of all Armenians attended the 2nd World Summit of Religious Leaders, held on 26 and 27 April 2010 in Baku, the holding of an election lacking all legal foundation is just a cheap political episode in the performance of the separatist regime.

The Parliamentary Assembly Resolution 1416 (2005) regards Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan and notes that separatist forces are still in control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The undersigned call for the unlawful action planned to be held in the form of “parliamentary elections” on 23 May 2010 in Nagorno-Karabakh to be refrained from and invite Armenia to apply all possible means of preventing such initiatives, which are of no benefit to the regulation process.