A session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Subcommittee on Nagorno Karabakh is scheduled within the framework of PACE summer session in Strasbourg June 20-24, PACE Azeri delegation member Hasim Molladaze told the 525 Baku newspaper. The MP considers replacing the OSCE Minsk Group with the PACE Subcommittee impossible. «It is a totally different format. The Council of Europe will not assume functions of the OSCE, which is the mediator in the negotiation process,» Mollazade said. He noted that the CoE will pay attention only to issues of its competence, i.e. human rights of persons displaced resulting from the conflict and securing the rule of law, specifically the legal aspects of the settlement. Former Azeri FM Tofik Zulfugarov does not consider substituting for the OSCE MG with the PACE Subcommittee either. «I do not think the Subcommittee can replace the MG as a negotiation format,» the political scientist said. Both Mollazade and Zulfugarov consider that in this case humanitarian problems referring to the Karabakh issue could be discussed with the assistance of the PACE Subcommittee. Specifically, «the humanitarian catastrophe Azerbaijan has encountered resulting from the availability of some 1 million refugees and displaced persons from Armenia and Azeri territories occupied by her.» It should be noted that besides Armenia and Azerbaijan the PACE Subcommittee includes representatives of six countries – France, Germany, Russia, Italy, Sweden and Turkey, as well as Chairmen of PACE Committees. The PACE Monitoring Committee Rapporteurs Andreas Gross and Andres Herkel, as well as the author of the report on Nagorno Karabakh David Atkinson are members of the structure.
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