OSCE MG CO-CHAIRS REFUSE TO COMMENT ON RESULTS OF MEETINGS
PanARMENIAN.Net
21.01.2010 11:33 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ OSCE MG co-chairs for Karabakh conflict settlement,
Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Robert Bradtke (US) and Bernard Fassier
(France) are currently on a visit to Baku.
OSCE MG co-chairs refused to comment on results of meetings in Yerevan
where they’ve been previous to Baku visit. The co-chairs noted that
their current visit to the region is related to coordination of the
meeting between Armenian and Azeri Presidents. "Based on regional visit
results, we’ll prepare a communique to be placed at OSCE website,"
Bernard Fassier stated.
The mediators also refused to provide comments on the oncoming
Aliyev-Sargsyan meeting due January 25 in Sochi, ANS TV channel
reported.
Recent meeting between Armenian and Azeri Presidents took place
on November 22, 2009 in Munich. Based on meeting results, OSCE MG
co-chairs issued a joint statement, characterizing negotiations held
as constructive. Presidents had detail discussion of key issues,
"progress was reached in some of the issues covered", while "some of
them still remain open", the statement 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.
The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security
and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, now Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)) to encourage a peaceful, negotiated
resolution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
On 6 December 1994, the Budapest Summit decided to establish a
co-chairmanship for the process.
Implementing the Budapest decision, the Chairman-in-Office issued on
23 March 1995, the mandate for the Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Process.
The main objectives of the Minsk Process are as follows: Providing
an appropriate framework for conflict resolution in the way of
assuring the negotiation process supported by the Minsk Group;
Obtaining conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the cessation
of the armed conflict in order to permit the convening of the Minsk
Conference; Promoting the peace process by deploying OSCE multinational
peacekeeping forces.
The Minsk Process can be considered to be successfully concluded if
the objectives referred to above are fully met.
The Minsk Group is headed by a Co-Chairmanship consisting of France,
Russia and the United States. Furthermore, the Minsk Group also
includes the following participating States: Belarus, Germany, Italy,
Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Turkey as well as Armenia
and Azerbaijan. Current Co-chairmen of the Minsk Group are: Ambassador
Bernard Fassier of France, Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov of the Russian
Federation and Ambassador Robert Bradtke of the United States.