February 8, 2008 - 14:30 AMT
Azeri parliamentarians refuse to meet Armenian counterparts
The chairs of Azerbaijani parliamentary commissions did not accept the proposals to conduct a meeting on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement with the participation of the Azerbaijani and Armenian MPs.

"We stated that the Azerbaijani and Armenian MPs have met frequently. However, these meetings produced no effect, and therefore, a new meeting with the Armenian MPs makes no sense. Unless the Karabakh conflict is settled cooperation between the two parliaments is impossible," the chair of Azerbaijan permanent parliamentary commission on human rights, Rabiyat Aslanova said.

Lord Russell Johnston, the head of the PACE Sub-committee on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, met with the chairs of the Azerbaijani parliamentary commissions. During the meeting in April in Strasburg, he made a proposal to hold a meeting on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement with the participation of the Azerbaijani and Armenian MPs. Johnston said that his visit was aimed at learning the position of the sides on whether the activity of the Sub-committee on the would continue, as well as to study the possibility of a meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian MPs.

"The Council of Europe is not involved in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. The visit to the region is not aimed at achieving the settlement of the conflict, but creating conditions for talks between the conflicting sides," he said, Trend reports.