OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS RELEASE A JOINT STATEMENT

ARMENPRESS
Feb 20, 2009

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS: The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group, Ambassadors Bernard Fassier of France, Yury Merzlyakov of
Russia, and Matthew Bryza of the United States, released statement
February 19 in which they underscore the non-use of force as a core
element of any just and lasting settlement of the conflict. The
statement says "The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group stress that,
despite two reports circulated at the request of the Permanent
Representative of Azerbaijan to the United Nations on December 24
and 29, 2008, there is no military solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

The Co-Chairs further underscore the non-use of force as a core
element of any just and lasting settlement of the conflict.

Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serge Sargsyan described their most recent
meeting, in Zurich on January 28, 2009, as useful and constructive,
despite two Azerbaijani reports circulated in the United Nations
General Assembly one month earlier. At the conclusion of their Zurich
meeting, the Presidents reiterated their commitment to the Minsk Group
peace process, and asked the Co-Chairs to intensify their efforts to
help the parties bridge their remaining differences with regard to
the Basic Principles.

In subsequent public statements, both Presidents underscored their
enduring commitment to the Minsk Group’s mediation effort. Therefore,
the Minsk Group’s Co-Chairs will visit the region before the end of
February to help the parties to accelerate their efforts to finalize
the Basic Principles.

The Minsk Group Co-Chairs will not allow the peace process to be
subverted by legalistic or historical discussions, though they will
remain sensitive to historical concerns expressed by the parties
to the conflict, all of which must be addressed in due course. The
Co-Chairs further believe the above-mentioned reports should have no
bearing on negotiations within the Minsk Group in pursuit of a peaceful
and political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, to which
both Presidents committed themselves in their Moscow Declaration of
November 2, 2009."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress