The UK Member of Parliament Robert Walter has been appointed a rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the escalation of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

The PACE Bureau welcomed the developing of a new report ‘On the escalation of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan’ and appealed to the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy to appoint a rapporteur on this topic.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.