Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-02-16-Speech-4-205"
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"en.20060216.23.4-205"2
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".
Mr President, firstly I would like to thank the honourable Members for all their speeches. The Commission has been informed about the alleged destruction of artefacts in the Julfa Cemetery, in the Azerbaijani Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan delivered a statement at the 586th Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council of 22 December 2005 and the issue was also discussed in the Council of Europe on 1 February 2006.
The protection of World Cultural Heritage sites in third countries is not within the Commission’s competences. We understand, however, that Armenia appealed to UNESCO, asking for a mission to be sent to Nakhichevan as rapidly as possible.
The Commission is well aware of the fact that episodes like the destruction in the Julfa Cemetery, if confirmed by independent sources, have a direct link with and are symptomatic of the long-standing conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which has caused mistrust and destruction and claimed victims on both the Armenian and the Azerbaijani sides since the early 1990s.
The Commission will continue to use all the means at its disposal to persuade the parties to find a quick settlement to the conflict and, once a peace deal is hopefully reached, assist in the reconstruction and the rehabilitation of the region.
The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh particularly unacceptable today in that both Armenia and Azerbaijan are part of the European Neighbourhood Policy, which aims, as a priority, to build confidence in the South Caucasus region, encouraging regional cooperation in as many sectors as possible and contributing to peace, stability and prosperity at the borders of an enlarged European Union.
It is an ambitious objective that we will try to achieve, including through the implementation of the action plans that the Commission is currently discussing with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. In these documents we ask the three South Caucasus countries to undertake a number of steps in order to come closer to Europe. The documents cover a very wide range of subjects, including cooperation on education and culture and the protection of cultural heritage.
Implementation of the ENP action plans will be monitored closely by the Commission and the benefits which flow from these will of course be conditional on their achievements."@en1
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