RA FOREIGN MINISTER: NO STAGNATION IN KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT
PanARMENIAN.Net
14.01.2010 15:01 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said
positive dynamics can be observed in the Karabakh conflict settlement
process.
"There’s no stagnation in the process," he said during a joint news
conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. "In 2009,
6 bilateral and 3 trilateral meetings were held at the level of
Armenian and Azeri presidents. The number of meetings is in itself
a proof of positive dynamics."
"Armenia stands for peaceful talks, as the only way to resolve
the Karabakh conflict. Meetings between Armenian and Azerbaijani
officials will be continued in near future in case the parities
manage to preserve last year’s positive dynamics and to expedite the
settlement process," Minister Nalbandian said.
The Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) is a de facto independent republic
located in the South Caucasus, bordering by Azerbaijan to the north
and east, Iran to the south, and Armenia to the west.
After the Soviet Union established control over the area, in 1923
it formed the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) within the
Azerbaijan SSR. In the final years of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan
launched an ethnic cleansing which resulted in the Karabakh War that
was fought from 1991 to 1994.
Since the ceasefire in 1994, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several
regions of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the
control of Nagorno Karabakh defense army.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have since been holding peace talks mediated
by the OSCE Minsk Group.
Foreign ministers from the 56 OSCE participating states charted the way
ahead for the OSCE-anchored debate on the future of European security
known as the Corfu Process in a decision and a Ministerial Declaration
adopted on December 2, 2009 at the Ministerial Council in Athens.
The ministers said they remained seriously concerned that the
principles of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act and subsequent OSCE
commitments are not fully respected and implemented.
"Our highest priority remains to re-establish our trust and confidence,
as well as to recapture the sense of common purpose that brought
together our predecessors in Helsinki almost 35 years ago," the
statement said.
In the declaration, the ministers said they were concerned "that
the use of force has not ceased to be considered as an option in
settling disputes; that the danger of conflicts between states has
not been eliminated, and armed conflicts have occurred even in the
last decades".
They also adopted a statement urging the Minsk Group Co-Chair countries
to sustain the positive dynamic of negotiations of the negotiations
and aiming to finalize the Basic Principles on the peaceful settlement
of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
"We are convinced there is today a real opportunity to build a
future of peace, stability and prosperity for the entire region,"
the statement said.