Trend, Azerbaijan
March 26 2010

Nagorno-Karabakh also focus of OSCE Magazine

Azerbaijan, Baku, March 26 /Trend News, Ð-.Ostapenko/

The latest OSCE Magazine, now available in print and online,
highlights the priorities of the 2010 Kazakh OSCE Chairmanship, its
first activities and preparations towards the goal of holding a summit
later this year, OSCE official statement said.

"As a country straddling East and West and the first Central Asian
participating State to assume the Chairmanship of the OSCE, Kazakhstan
has a unique opportunity to bridge divides and affirm the cohesiveness
of this prestigious Organization," writes Ambassador Kairat
Abdrakhmanov in the introduction.

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was one of the topics covered in the
magazine. An interview with the Chairperson-in-Office’s Personal
Representative on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and a first-person
piece by Field Assistant Peter Keay describe the OSCE’s work on the
ground to build confidence and facilitate dialogue on finding a
peaceful settlement of this longstanding conflict that continues to
cost lives every year.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are
currently holding the peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.

His predecessor as Chairperson of the Permanent Council, Greek
Ambassador Mara Marinaki, retraces the journey of the year 2009, which
saw the launching of the Corfu Process, the Organization’s discussions
on fundamental questions of European security, and highlights the
significance of decisions taken at the Athens Ministerial Council in
December.

This issue of the OSCE Magazine showcases the OSCE’s work in Ukraine,
with articles on the largest-ever OSCE project to eliminate the toxic
rocket fuel mélange; aproject to remove explosive remnants of war from
Crimea, and the observation of the recent presidential election.