OSCE hopes for intensified talks over Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
By Sara Rajabova
OSCE hopes for engagement of the parties to the Armenia-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the intensified process of negotiations on settling the long-lasting problem.
Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk told Trend news agency on September 15 that the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Didier Burkhalter, urged the conflicting parties to be engaged in this process during his recent visit to the region.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.
Kasprzyk further said OSCE has presented its proposals to the conflicting parties and urged them to start intensified negotiations.
"Now the sides have to take the necessary steps to move the process forward," Kasprzyk said, adding that any initiatives and efforts of the parties to bring the process forward are positive.
He went on to say that OSCE, as well as Minsk Group co-chairs, is ready to assist the conflicting parties.
Kasprzyk also positively assessed the meetings of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in Sochi and Wales, voicing hope that the presidents will use the opportunity to continue the dialogue upon the invitation of the French president.
Recently, U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick said the OSCE Minsk Group expects a trilateral meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and France in Paris in late October.
Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.
Armenia continues the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.
Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.