WASHINGTON, D.C. – US Congressman Brad Sherman, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, praised a recent vote by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) regarding violence in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

The resolution, which was voted down, would have called for a process to work on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute under the Council of Europe that did not include the U.S. 

Prior to the vote, Congressman Sherman sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry urging opposition to the resolution.

“I was pleased to see the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe rejected a proposed resolution that would have sidelined the United States in the effort to bring peace to the Caucasus,” said Congressman Sherman.

“I was on the phone over the weekend with our diplomats including the Acting Assistant Secretary for European Affairs John Heffern, and the ambassadors to the U.S. from a number of European countries.  I commend the State Department for working to oppose this resolution.

“The resolution would have called for the substitution of the existing Minsk Group with a process under the Council of Europe that did not include the U.S.

“The United States remains invested in the Minsk Group process, co-chaired by the United States, France and Russia, which remains the best forum to work towards a peaceful and equitable solution for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.”

PACE on Tuesday voted against MP Robert Walter’s (UK) anti-Armenian report entitled “Escalation of Violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and Other Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan,” but adopted MP Milica Marković’s (Bosnia and Herzegovina) anti-Armenian report about Sarsang Reservoir in Nagorno-Karabakh, and entitled “Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water.”

To note, representatives of the PACE Unified European Left Group, the Socialist Group, and the European People’s Party voted against both anti-Armenian reports.