Switzerland appoints special representative for South Caucasus
By Nazrin Gadimova
The unresolved conflicts in South Caucasus will be one of Switzerland's priorities during its presidency of the OSCE in 2014, the Swiss Foreign Ministry has reported.
According to the ministry, Switzerland will make every effort to establish a dialogue and confidence-building measures between the conflict sides in South Caucasus.
In this regard, Angelo Gnadinger was appointed special representative of Switzerland to the OSCE on South Caucasus and will take up his duties on January 1, 2014. Gnadinger is an expert of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, operating in Geneva, and has extensive experience in conflict resolution.
The Special Representative will provide support for OSCE's mediation efforts in the South Caucasus region in 2014.
The South Caucasus republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia erupted in conflict during the collapse of the former Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s. First Nagorno- Karabakh, and then South Ossetia and Abkhazia became the focus of violent conflict that has left the region divided and contested for more than 20 years.
Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.
Large-scale hostilities ended with a ceasefire in 1994, but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.