Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict in the Council of Europe documents

Committee of Ministers

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which is the statutory decision-making body of the organisation, has always declared its long-standing unambiguous position on the issue of respect to sovereignty and territorial integrity of its member States on various occasions. At its Ministerial session held on 16-17 May 2019 in Helsinki, Finland, the Committee of Ministers adopted respective decisions whereby reaffirming its commitments to the norms and principles of international law, the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all member States within their internationally recognised borders.

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

On 25 January 2005, at its winter part-session, the PACE adopted Resolution 1416 (2005) and Recommendation 1690 (2005) entitled “The conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region dealt with OSCE Minsk Conference”. In this Resolution, the Parliamentary Assembly regretted that hundreds of thousands of people were displaced, and considerable parts of the territory of Azerbaijan were occupied by Armenian forces. The Assembly mentioned that the occupation of foreign territory by a member state constitutes a grave violation of that state’s obligations as a member of the Council of Europe and reaffirmed the right of displaced persons from the area of conflict to return to their homes safely and with dignity. It recalled Resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993) of the United Nations Security Council and urged the parties concerned to comply with them, in particular by refraining from any armed hostilities and by withdrawing military forces from the occupied territories. 

On 26 January 2016, at the plenary session of the Assembly two reports concerning the formerly occupied territories of Azerbaijan were discussed:

1. Report on “Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan”, prepared by the Rapporteur of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, British parliamentarian Mr Robert Walter;
2. Report on “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water”, prepared by the Rapporteur of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development by the member of the delegation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Ms Milica Markovich.

In its Resolution (2085) 2016 adopted following the report on “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water”, the Parliamentary Assembly has considered that the deliberate creation of an artificial environmental crisis must be regarded as “environmental aggression” and seen as a hostile act by one State towards another aimed at creating environmental disaster areas and making normal life impossible for the population concerned. In this regard, it has deplored the fact that the occupation by Armenia of the respective territories of Azerbaijan creates similar humanitarian and environmental problems for the citizens of Azerbaijan living in the Lower Karabakh valley. In view of this urgent humanitarian problem, the Assembly has requested an immediate withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the territories concerned, and called on the Armenian authorities to cease using water resources as tools of political influence or an instrument of pressure benefiting only one of the parties to the conflict.

Furthermore, the delegation of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Parliamentary Assembly has constantly brought the results of Armenia's policy of aggression and occupation against Azerbaijan to the attention of PACE members. A number of documents (see below) related to the former conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan were put forward by the delegation of Azerbaijan and supported by numerous members of the Assembly.

On 10 November 2020, after almost thirty years, the armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan was brought to an end with the signing of the trilateral statement of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Russian Federation. At present, the primary task of Azerbaijan is to rebuild the completely destroyed cities, towns and villages in the liberated territories in order to ensure the safe and dignified return of Azerbaijani IDPs to their homes, whose fundamental rights have been violated for decades. Furthermore, ensuring lasting peace, development and progress in the region is the basis of Azerbaijan's vision for the future, and Azerbaijan is ready to normalise relations with Armenia on the basis of strict adherence to the principles of international law, in particular, the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of international borders.

In this context, proceeding from this understanding, Azerbaijan encourages the Council of Europe to use its well-known expertise and comparative advantage for fostering confidence-building and reconciliation between Armenia and Azerbaijan. In this vein, Azerbaijan welcomes the initiative put forward by the Secretary General on confidence-building measures between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the participation of the Council of Europe in this process.

Last update: 16.05.2022