OSCE RAPPORTEUR WARNS OF RISK OF CLASHES OVER GARABAGH

AzerNews Weekly
Sept 3 2008
Azerbaijan

The risk of armed clashes continues in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict
over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA)
president`s special rapporteur on the conflict has said.

Goran Lennmarker, who arrived in Baku on Monday as part of a visit to
the South Caucasus region, expressed his hope that both sides in this
ongoing conflict would seek a common ground, saying it was pivotal to
compromise in exchange for a settlement to the long-standing dispute.

"If a compromise solution is found, many refugees will be able to
return home. I believe this is important for both countries," he said.

Upper Garabagh is an Azerbaijani region that has been occupied by
Armenian forces since a 1994 ceasefire ended separatist fighting that
killed an estimated 30,000 people and forced as many as one million
people from their homes.

The OSCE`s team of diplomats, referred to as the Minsk Group, has
been brokering the peace process.

In reference to the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, Lennmarker said the
OSCE unequivocally supported Georgia`s territorial integrity. He said
his visit to the region would allow him to closely follow ongoing
developments in the South Caucasus republic, where a brief war with
Russia took place in August.

"Abkhazia is Georgian territory and residents of the region have been
living side by side for years," Lennmarker said.

He added that Azerbaijan is one of the three South Caucasus states,
and how relations develop among these regional states following the
Georgian-Russian conflict will be carefully watched.

On August 16, Lennmarker was appointed the OSCE PA special envoy
for Georgia and the situation in its breakaway republic of South
Ossetia. After completing the visit to Azerbaijan, he is scheduled
to meet with officials in Armenia and Georgia. He will, further,
submit a report on the current situation in Georgia when the PA meets
in Toronto, Canada from September 18-21.