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Tusk’s statements "show that he has a distorted notion of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict", according to the spokesperson of the president of the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

The president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, on Wednesday continued his tour of the South Caucasus, visiting the Armenian capital, Yerevan.

Addressing a press conference after the talks, president Tusk said that "the European Union supports Azerbaijan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity""

Georgian politicians of all persuasions, who constantly wrap themselves up in EU and NATO flags, have been acting in a way which makes Georgia look like an unstable banana republic not an aspirant for EU or NATO membership. There seems to be no one in Georgia who is able to exercise restraint on a political class that has got used to shooting from the hip, creating a highly polorised, divided and disillusioned society. The international community now needs to step in and step up.

"The discussions were held in a buisness like atmosphere against the background of recent developments on the ground", said a statement by the EU, OSCE and UN who co-chair the process.

The exchange of Azerbaijani and Armenian detainees viewed as a positive step following weeks of increasing tensions.

In this op-ed, Ahmad Alili considers the implications if Azerbaijan decides to use force to resolve the Karabakh conflict. "Any further military action in the region will further increase the enmity between Azerbaijanis and Armenians; regaining control militarily over Nagorno-Karabakh may, in fact, end up prolonging the conflict itself", he says.

On Tuesday, PACE approved a resolution that will allow the Russian delegation to take part in the Assembly's June session. The resolution was backed by 118 members, 62 parliamentarians voted against it, while 10 abstained.

David Bakradze, of the opposition European Georgia Party, has in the meantime raised the issue of Russia's return to full participation in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which is going to be discussed at a meeting in Strasbourg this week. Bakradze said that it was not acceptable that Russia be allowed to return to PACE given its recent actions.