Yesterday's PACE resolution on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was a clear and balanced statement, which reflected a deep understanding of the whole complex of issues related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by the European structure, the former US Assistant Secretary for the South Caucasus, former US ambassador to Azerbaijan, Matthew Bryza, said in an interview to Vestnik Kavkaza.
"By the adoption of this resolution, the Committee on Political Affairs showed that it wants the Council of Europe to take a more proactive stance to support the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group to achieve a framework agreement on the settlement of the conflict on the basis of the so-called Madrid basic principles submitted by the OSCE Minsk Group seven years ago," the diplomat noted.
Bryza recalled that such appeals to the international community to facilitate the withdrawal of occupying forces from the Azerbaijani sovereign territories in Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts have been voiced for many years. "In addition, the resolution calls for the establishment of the interim status of Nagorno-Karabakh. These factors highlight the three key elements of the Helsinki Declaration, which should be the basis for any resolution of the conflict: the territorial integrity of states, the right of peoples to self-determination and non-use of force," the former US ambassador to Azerbaijan said.
"PACE complains that Armenia refuses to cooperate on this issue with the Committee on Political Affairs," the diplomat added.
But Matthew Bryza still cannot see any prospects of this resolution. "Thus, this statement, as well as the statement of a decade ago, may not have any practical application, since the Council of Europe has no mechanism to implement such documents," he concluded.
