Motion for a resolution | Doc. 13549 | 25 June 2014

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

Signatories: Ms Theodora BAKOYANNIS, Greece, EPP/CD ; Mr Volodymyr ARIEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Şaban DİŞLİ, Turkey, EPP/CD ; Ms Aleksandra DJUROVIĆ, Serbia, EPP/CD ; Mr Ioannis DRAGASAKIS, Greece, UEL ; Mr Bernard FOURNIER, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Hans FRANKEN, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Mr Frank J. JENSSEN, Norway, EPP/CD ; Ms Kristin Ørmen JOHNSEN, Norway, EPP/CD ; Mr Aleksandar JOVIČIĆ, Serbia, EPP/CD ; Ms Vasiliki KATRIVANOU, Greece, UEL ; Mr Jacques LEGENDRE, France, EPP/CD ; Mr Zsolt NÉMETH, Hungary, EPP/CD ; Mr Nicos NICOLAIDES, Cyprus, SOC ; Mr Marcel OBERWEIS, Luxembourg, EPP/CD ; Ms Marija OBRADOVIĆ, Serbia, EPP/CD ; Mr Pieter OMTZIGT, Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Mr Mikael OSCARSSON, Sweden, EPP/CD ; Ms Elisabeth SCHNEIDER-SCHNEITER, Switzerland, EPP/CD ; Ms Ingjerd SCHOU, Norway, EPP/CD ; Mr Serhiy SOBOLEV, Ukraine, EPP/CD ; Mr Marc SPAUTZ, Luxembourg, EPP/CD ; Ms Olga-Nantia VALAVANI, Greece, UEL

This motion has not been discussed in the Assembly and commits only those who have signed it.

Recent events in Ukraine show that there is a great animosity in the region of the former Soviet Union.

As the experience from Georgia also showed, conflicts considered for long time to be frozen can, in crisis conditions, rapidly turn into unfrozen violent ones.

In the light of the current absence of momentum within the OSCE Minsk Group, there seems to be a role for the Council of Europe to play in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between two of its member States.

It is to be recalled that both Armenia and Azerbaijan committed themselves upon their accession to the Council of Europe in January 2001 to use only peaceful means for settling the conflict, by refraining from any threat of using force against their neighbours. At the same time, Armenia committed itself to use its considerable influence over Nagorno-Karabakh to foster a solution to the conflict. In its Resolution 1416 (2005) on “The conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference”, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe resolved to continue monitoring on a regular basis the evolution of this conflict towards its peaceful resolution.

Reports on the honouring of commitments of Armenia and of Azerbaijan which have since been debated at the Assembly have referred to the issue but not dealt with it in depth.

Thirteen years after the accession to the Council of Europe of Armenia and Azerbaijan and nine years after the adoption of Resolution 1416 (2005) on the conflict, current geo-political conditions in the region call for the Assembly to take up the issue again and, through a new report, remind both member States of the need to make progress towards a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.