OSCE Secretary General talks about frozen conflicts
By Rashid Shirinov
Every ‘frozen’ conflict in the OSCE area has its own specific, OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier said, adding that it is difficult to define a common agenda at present.
He made the remark at the conference titled “Europe under Pressure. The OSCE in a Complex Security Environment” in Vienna on March 3.
“When the Cold War ended we thought all problems are solved. Then conflicts in the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia emerged. Here the OSCE became necessary again,” Zannier said addressing the conference.
The Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, is one of the conflicts in the OSCE area, which cannot find its just solution for more than two decades.
The conflict between the two countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.
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.
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