DECLARATION ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH
RECOMMENDATION 1251 (1994)1 ON THE CONFLICT IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH
(Adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 11 March 1992 at the 471bis meeting of the Ministers' Deputies)
The Committee of Ministers, deeply concerned about recent reports of indiscriminate killings and outrages, firmly condemns the violence and attacks directed against the civilian populations in the Nagorno-Karabakh area of the Azerbaijan Republic. It underlines that no solution imposed by force can be accepted by the international community.
The Committee of Ministers endorses the recommendations of the CSCE participating states in Prague on 28 February that there should be an immediate and effective cease-fire; an embargo on the supply of arms to the area and the setting up of safe corridors for the channelling of humanitarian aid. It recalls that any solution to the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh should be based on the rule of law, democracy, human rights, and guarantees for the rights of members of minorities and on the respect for inviolability of all borders, whether internal or external, which can only be changed by peaceful means and by common agreement.
The Committee of Ministers welcomes the agreement by the conflicting parties to the involvement of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the dispute and hopes that the ICRC and other NGOs will play the leading role in the supply of humanitarian aid to the victims of this dispute.
The Committee of Ministers supports all mediation efforts to find a peaceful solution to the dispute. Once an effective cease-fire is in place the dispute should be solved through negotiation among all the interested parties, including local authorities and representatives from Nagorno-Karabakh. Negotiations should be based on respect for both the letter and the spirit of the Helsinki Final Act and the Paris Charter adopted in the framework of the CSCE, and particularly the commitment to settle disputes by peaceful means.
1. The Assembly notes that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 and that it has already resulted in almost 20 000 deaths and more than one million refugees.
2. Its Committee on Relations with European Non-Member Countries has organised a series of hearings since 1992 which delegations from the Armenian and Azerbaijani Parliaments, the "leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh" and the "Azeri interested party of Nagorno-Karabakh" attended.
3. The Assembly notes with satisfaction that the ceasefire which came into force on 12 May 1994 has been relatively well complied with, and hopes that it will be followed up as soon as possible with a peace agreement signed by all the interested parties.
4. It welcomes the efforts of the CSCE's Minsk Group, the United Nations Security Council, the Government of the Russian Federation and the Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS to encourage the warring parties to sign a peace agreement, as well as the agreement signed on 26 July 1994 by the Ministers of Defence of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the commander of the army of Nagorno-Karabakh, in which they affirm their commitment to observe the ceasefire and their eagerness to accelerate the signing of a political agreement.
5. The Assembly consequently recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
I. call on the governments of Council of Europe member states to make the necessary resources available to the CSCE's Minsk Group so that it can achieve its objectives, particularly the deployment of international observers in the war zone;
II. renew political dialogue with the authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan;
III. as soon as the conditions are met, open its co-operation programmes to Armenia and Azerbaijan and, if these parties so wish, place experts at their disposal who could help draw up a political status for Nagorno-Karabakh.
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Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 10 November 1994.
See Doc. 7182, report of the Committee on Relations with European Non-Member Countries, rapporteurs: MM. Pfuhl and Solé Tura.