STATEMENT OF THE CO-CHAIRS OF THE OSCE MINSK GROUP: THERE IS NO MILITARY SOLUTION TO THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

Regnum
l
Feb 20 2009
Russia

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 the following statement on February, 19, 2009:

"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 Serzh 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."