Conference on ethnic, political conflicts in Baku

An international conference "Legal framework for settlement of ethnic and political conflicts in Europe" was held at the Constitution Court of Azerbaijan January 11-12. The conference was organized by the Court, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.

The conference, which lasted for two days, focused on federalism, the experience of resolving ethnic and political conflicts by political institutions, the international legal status of national minorities, the right to self determination, and legal aspects for the solution to the Garabagh problem from the CE angle.

In his speech, chairman of the Constitution Court Khanlar Hajiyev underscored that the discussed issues were of great importance not just for Europe, but also for Azerbaijan. Addressing the gathering, Azeri deputy foreign minister Araz Azimov said the significance of the conference is that the world community is unaware of the Garabagh conflict. He pointed to the necessity of noting that the Garabagh dispute is an inter-state one.

Attending the conference were CE experts led by chairman of the Venice Commission Gianni Buciccio, Italy’s permanent representative to the CE Pietro Erchole Ago, Georgian and Moldavian officials, representatives from the Azeri President’s Office, MPs, and law enforcers.

Meeting President

The necessity of Azerbaijan’s getting closer to European values was underscored in a meeting between the conference participants and President Aliyev.

The conference is very topical and vital for Azerbaijan, a country that has been suffering a conflict for quite many years, the President said.

Secretary of the Council of Europe Venice Commission Gianni Buciccio said on behalf of the meeting participants that the Commission, being a non-political authority, aspires to help resolve conflicts using the European experience. The parties stressed that solution to any conflict should rest on international legal norms.

President Aliyev, speaking of the importance of fighting separatism, regretted that "such phenomena are not timely prevented, inciting conflicts".

On the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the President said that international legal norms should be taken as a basement for solution. These norms entail the territorial integrity, sovereignty and inviolability of borders of Azerbaijan recognized by all the international organizations, he emphasized.