FOREIGN MINISTERS OF OSCE MINSK GROUP’S CO-CHAIR COUNTRIES ADOPTED JOINT STATEMENT ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

De Facto
Dec 4, 2008

YEREVAN, 04.12.08. DE FACTO. On December 4 Foreign Ministers of
OSCE Minsk group Co-Chair countries adopted a joint statement on
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.

IAA DE FACTO issues the statement’s text in extenso: "We, the
Foreign Ministers and Deputy Minister of the OSCE Minsk Group’s
Co-Chair countries – France, Russia, and the United States – call
on the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to build on the
positive momentum established during the meeting of the Presidents
of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow on November 2, 2008. The Moscow
Declaration signed that same day opened a new and promising phase in
our shared endeavor to expand peace in the South Caucasus. In that
declaration, the Presidents reaffirm their commitment to advancing a
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the framework
of the Basic Principles developed by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs in
collaboration with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on the basis
of their proposals advanced last year in Madrid.

We call on the parties to work with the Co-Chairs to finalize the Basic
Principles in coming months, and then begin drafting a comprehensive
peace settlement as outlined by those agreed principles. In keeping
with the Moscow Declaration, we call on the parties to work with
the Co-Chairs to=2 0develop confidence-building measures, beginning
with pulling back snipers from the Line of Contact to save lives of
innocent civilians and soldiers as our mediators already proposed to
the sides at the highest level during the last visit mid November. It
is urgent for the parties to work with each other, the Co-Chairs,
and the Personal Representative of the Chairman in Office to stabilize
the ceasefire through this and other measures. We reiterate our firm
view that there is no military solution to the conflict and call on
the parties to recommit to a peaceful resolution".