GORAN LENNMARKER: "GOOD POSSIBILITY" FOR SOLUTION ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH"
Today.Az
az/news/politics/50536.html
Feb 6 2009
Azerbaijan
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Special Representative on
Nagorno-Karabakh and Special Envoy to Georgia, Goran Lennmarker,
said that there is a "good possibility" for the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict to be solved this year, but "time is scarce" and it is now
"critically important to seize the opportunity."
Mr. Lennmarker, President Emeritus of the OSCE PA, will visit
all three countries in the South Caucasus next week. He made the
statement in an interview for the OSCE PA web site published today
(). His trip to the region includes visits to Armenia
9-10 February, Georgia 10-12 February, and Azerbaijan 12-14 February,
where he will hold talks with the leaders in the parliaments,
governments, and with NGOs.
"I hope," Mr. Lennmarker said of his trip, "that it will result in
positive signals that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is on its way to
a peaceful resolution."
In Georgia, Goran Lennmarker said he hopes to learn more about how
the Georgians view the pressing issues on refugees and internally
displaced persons (IDPs) and about their perspective on finding a
dialogue with Russia. He said it is important that the OSCE continue
to play a role in South Ossetia because there is a great need for
impartial mediators and observers such as from the OSCE.
"In South Ossetia, there is now a situation where you have had de
facto ethnic cleansing," Mr. Lennmarker said in the interview.
"Refugees and IDPs, who live outside of South Ossetia, have their homes
there and wish to go back. If they are to go back to a situation where
their houses have been burned down, they need impartial observers —
people they feel can protect them, so they don’t go back to the same
situation they just fled from."