Azernews.Az

VIENNA – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis has said the responsibility for resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh "lies with the parties".

"I am concerned about the recent increase in the number of cease-fire violations," he said in an interview with Armenian news website NEWS.am.

Azubalis said that at the same time, he welcomes the recent agreement on exchange of prisoners of war which was reached in Astrakhan, Russia.

"I know that there are no easy solutions and the progress is slow. We will support greater engagement by the [mediating] OSCE Minsk Group to re-energize the political negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh," he said.

Azubalis stressed Lithuania's clear priority is keeping avenues of dialogue open to ensure that there is no escalation.

"Our approach will be to encourage openness and transparency to build trust and confidence, and reduce tensions. Progress however small makes a difference to people's lives," he noted.

Lithuanian Special Representative for Protracted Conflicts Giedrius Cekuolis will visit Armenia and Azerbaijan in February. He will open a dialogue with the parties and prepare Azubalis' visit later in the spring.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus republics reared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia's territorial claims. Armenia has been occupying over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally-recognized territory since the early 1990s in defiance of international law. The ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but over a decade of efforts by US, Russian and French mediators have been fruitless so far.

Azubalis said that as the OSCE chair, Lithuania will focus on resolving existing conflicts and achieving progress in addressing transnational threats and safeguarding fundamental freedoms.

"I will work closely with the Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, to encourage all OSCE participating states to fulfill the media freedom commitments they have undertaken. In June we will host a conference in Vilnius on safety of journalists. Being a journalist unfortunately remains dangerous in several parts of the OSCE region - we must change this," the diplomat added.