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OSCE MG co-chairs to visit region in early February [UPDATE]

31 January 2018 17:25 (UTC+04:00)
OSCE MG co-chairs to visit region in early February [UPDATE]

By Rashid Shirinov

OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will visit the South Caucasus in the first decade of February, Russian Foreign Ministry’s Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on January 31.

“In the first decade of February, the co-chairs intend to visit the region to clarify the positions of the sides on the problematic issues of the [Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh] conflict settlement,” she said.

Zakharova added that by showing the political will, only the sides themselves may find a compromise solution that will put an end to this really protracted conflict.

At the last meeting of the Azerbaijani, Armenian FMs and the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, held in Krakow on January 18, the parties and co-chairs exchanged views on core sensitive issues contained in the working proposals currently on the table. Furthermore, the foreign ministers agreed in principle to the co-chairs’ revised concept paper for implementing the expansion of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office with a view toward finalizing it as soon as possible.

Zakharova, referring to the topic, noted that Russia is making efforts to expand the OSCE observer mission in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“Russia, along with other OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries dealing with the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s settlement, actively stands for reduction of tension on the contact line and is making efforts aimed at expansion of the OSCE observer mission in the conflict zone,” she said.

The spokeswoman noted that a significant part of the Russian president’s meeting with the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in St. Petersburg in June 2016 was dedicated to this topic. It was also discussed during the visit of Russian Foreign Minister to Baku and Yerevan in November 2017.

Zakharova said several versions of the document regulating the activities of additional observers were prepared within the OSCE, and at the Krakow meeting, Azerbaijan and Armenia were provided with updated proposals.

“The ministers agreed in principle to the document prepared by the mediators, and some technical details remain,” Zakharova noted. “The sides still need to agree upon them before the expansion mechanism is launched.”

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign state with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.

Until now, Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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