Strasbourg, 24/08/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Council of Europe, comprised of 43 member countries, appealed to the de facto authorities of Nagorno Karabakh to dissuade them to carry out unilateral organisation of "local elections" in the province, scheduled for 5 September. "These so-called elections cannot be considered legitimate", says the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, Ernst Walch, Foreign Minister of Liechtenstein, as well as the president of the Parliamentary Assembly, Lord Russell-Johnston, and the Secretary General of the organisation, Walter Schwimmer. He went on to add: "it is not in Nagorno Karabakh's interest to go against the efforts deployed for finding a rapid and global solution to the conflict through a political and pacific solution, as provided for in the commitments taken by Armenia and Azerbaijan when they joined the Council of Europe, on 25 January 2001".