AHEAD OF THE WHOLE OF EUROPE

Azerbaijan is to head another prestigious international organization - from May it begins its chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers (CM) of the Council of Europe.

Last week Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov received the new head of the Council of Europe's Baku office, Dragan Filipovic, and the country's forthcoming chairmanship of the CE Committee of Ministers was the main subject of discussion. Specifically, the sides discussed measures that are scheduled to be held during that period.

The Committee of Ministers is a directive body comprising the foreign ministers of the member-countries of the Council of Europe or their permanent representatives in Strasburg which approves the directions of the Council of Europe's policy and the organization's budget and programme of activities.

At a press conference on the first day of the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the structure's chairman, Anne Brasseur, noted the importance of this chairmanship both for Azerbaijan and for the Council of Europe. "At the same time this chairmanship will not be easy for Azerbaijan or for our organization: there are many issues that we must clarify," she remarked. 

Brasseur also said that, according to the assembly's tradition, she had invited Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to the first session during the republic's chairmanship of the CM of the Council of Europe. As expected, the main directions of the committee's work for the next six months will be announced by the Azerbaijani president during PACE's summer session in June.

Naturally, Baku's priority during its term of chairmanship of the CE CM will be to promote a solution to the conflicts in Europe proceeding from the premise that Azerbaijan's main problem is the ongoing occupation of one fifth of the republic's territory. Azerbaijan remains true to one of its main commitments to the Council of Europe when joining the organization over 13 years ago, and is driven towards a peaceful solution to this problem by way of negotiations with Armenia. One of the most effective means of achieving this is the work of PACE's sub-committee for Nagornyy Karabakh, which was created on the insistence of the Azerbaijani side. However, because of Armenia's reluctance to take part in the sessions of this structure the sub-committee's work has come to a standstill. Incidentally, the new PACE chairman has stated her intention to breathe new life into the sub-committee's work to continue the meetings between the heads of the Azerbaijani and Armenian delegations, but there is no guarantee that this will happen. Yerevan's position on this question has scarcely changed.

Nevertheless, Azerbaijan may use its new opportunities to promote a Karabakh settlement. It will scarcely be possible to bring Armenia back to the work of the sub-committee if it is reluctant to do so (alas, the CE does not possess the mechanisms to force this), but it is perfectly realistic to take advantage of the opportunities of being chair of the CE Committee of Ministers to provide better information to the member-countries about Armenia's aggression and its consequences. Moreover, Azerbaijan has succeeded in ensuring that the proper documentation has been provided in the Council of Europe and its assembly in this regard. It should not be forgotten that on 25 January 2005 PACE went down in history as the first international organization in the world not only to discuss the occupation of Azerbaijani territory but to openly name Armenia as the aggressor. It was the first official document adopted at international level which notes Armenia's aggression, its policy of ethnic cleansing against the Azerbaijani people and the existence of a separatist regime in Nagornyy Karabakh.

"I believe that Azerbaijan's cooperation with the Council of Europe under A. Brasseur's management of the Parliamentary Assembly will be very productive, and we can count on its support in many questions, including the discussion of issues concerning Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan," Rafayel Huseynov, a deputy of the Milli Maclis [parliament] and a member of Azerbaijan's delegation in PACE, told R+.

As well as ensuring stability Azerbaijan's other expected priorities as chairman are encouraging an inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue, support in eradicating poverty, achieving stable development and prosperity, and also the problem of energy security which is topical for Europe.

At the same time, Azerbaijan has no intention of confining itself to Europe in its work as chair-country. At the end of last year Foreign Minister E. Mammadyarov, speaking at the Democratic Forum in Indonesia, said that during its chairmanship of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers Azerbaijan would encourage cooperation with regional organizations representing other continents.

It may be said with confidence that Azerbaijan, which has already gained sufficient experience of chairmanship in the most respected international structure - the UN Security Council - will cope successfully with its functions as chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

As well as this, there are still false stereotypes in Strasburg regarding Azerbaijan, imposed by the Armenian lobby which is active in PACE. In view of this, one can fully expect that during its leadership of the Committee of Ministers Azerbaijan will make every effort to dispel various myths and disinformation.

After its priceless experience as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, chairmanship of the CE Committee of Ministers will be another agreeable opportunity for Azerbaijan to demonstrate its diplomatic activity in the most important directions of international politics.  There is no doubt that in these six months Azerbaijan will make maximum use of this opportunity to carry out its foreign political priorities and to endorse the country's positions in the world arena.