ARMENIA DISSATISFIED WITH PACE REPORT ON NAGORNY KARABAKH

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YEREVAN, September 22 (RIA Novosti) - Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan has expressed dissatisfaction over the report on Nagorny Karabakh delivered by Terry Davis, ex-Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) reporter on Nagorny Karabakh.

"It is unacceptable for Armenia," Mr Oskanyan told pressmen.

The minister does not believe either that the new PACE reporter, David Atkinson of Britain, will be unbiased. Mr Oskanyan said he was aware of Britain's position on territorial integrity issues.

"The ex-rapporteur's report shall be seen merely as a viewpoint that is not legally binding and is not fraught with any consequences," Tigran Torosyan, Armenian Parliament Vice-Speaker, said in earlier remarks on Mr Davis' report. Mr Torosyan noted that terms like "ethnic cleansing" had appeared in the report. However, he complained that they were applied equally in relation to Azerbaijan and Armenia. Besides, the report acknowledges Azerbaijan and Armenia's equal rights to territorial integrity and national self-determination.

Mr Torosyan said the phrase "A major part of Azerbaijan's territory is so far occupied by Armenia and the separatist forces are continuing to maintain control over the Republic of Nagorny Karabakh" was absolutely unacceptable for Armenia.

Armenia believes the only positive provision in the report is the one reading that the Azerbaijani authorities have been invited to establish contacts with the republic's forces for discussing its status in the future.

Terry Davis, who led the British delegation at PACE and the organisation's socialist faction, was appointed reporter on Nagorny Karabakh at the summer session in 2002. In June 2004, Mr Davis was elected Secretary General of the Council of Europe. His report on Karabakh was heard at the PACE Political Council's meeting in Paris on September 14. British deputy David Atkinson was elected new reporter on the Krabakh problem on the same day.

Mr Atkinson has already announced an intention to meet all parties to the conflict. However, it is not immediately clear when his visit to the region will take place.

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