PACE prepares a report on disappearances in South Caucasus

Leo Platvoet, a Dutch MP, rapporteur of the Commission on migration, refugees and population issues of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has come to Azerbaijan.

As Baku office of the Council of Europe has informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, Leo Platvoet is preparing a report on disappearances in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The report will be submitted to PACE in the second half of 2007.

Notably, upon his arrival to Baku, Leo Platvoet noted in his interview with journalists that the human, humanitarian factor, rather than political, is the main one in the issue of disappearances in South Caucasus. According to him, the aim of the visit is preparation of a comprehensive document reflecting the true situation both in Armenia and in Azerbaijan.

Details of the future report will be discussed with officials of Azerbaijan, relatives of persons who disappeared, representatives of the International Red Cross, various state agencies, and members of the Azeri delegation in PACE.

At the same time, Platvoet refuted the information of Armenian mass media about his alleged statement in Yerevan on the necessity of cooperation of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorny Karabakh on the issue of disappearances. "My statements have been misinterpreted. All my idea was in that we should drop the political element of the issue and unite our efforts for a prompt resolution of the problem of disappearances," he said.

"Azeri-press" reports that, in her turn, Gultekin Gadjieva, member of the Azerbaijan delegation in PACE, expressed hope that the Leo Platvoet's report would be objective and comprehensive. In her opinion, the report would not be able to cover the wide-scale humanitarian problems but would help form an idea in the Council of Europe about the 5000 lost citizens of Azerbaijan.

Notably, the official Baku has already applied to PACE on the issue of citizens of Azerbaijan held in captivity in Armenia and the inhuman conditions of their imprisonment in Nagorny Karabakh and Armenia.