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Warlick minimizes OSCE Minsk Group's role in Karabakh conflict solution

18 February 2015 18:32 (UTC+04:00)
Warlick minimizes OSCE Minsk Group's role in Karabakh conflict solution

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

As the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group is busy with brokering the peace talks on the Armenian- Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, critics have raised some questions over the efficiency of the talks.

Though mediators have finalized their respective visits to Baku and Yerevan, no concrete offer has been raised to resolve the protracted problem.

Following the visits to the capital cities on February 16 and 17, James Warlick, American Co-Chair of the Minsk Group, have traditionally came up with a statement calling on the conflicting sides to promote confidence-building measures.

"We are interested in taking any step that can help build a confidence and bring the people closer. Certainly, there are issues that are discussed and resolved on the level of governments, and we really want to see a progress in resolution of these issues. We hail chances of communication and meeting between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. We also hope that the Armenian sportsmen will attend the European Games in Baku, because we believe that this kind of communication is useful," he said.

Warlick added that contacts between the people are of great importance in terms of leading to long-lasting solutions. He believes that the day of signing a peace agreement will bring peace not only to Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also to the whole region.

"However, it cannot be only a signature on a document. It is necessary to promote agreement, making it a basis for trust, and our work should namely focus on it. That's what we wish to see," he said.

Warlick mostly centered on initiatives of the belligerents, but avoided to put a special stress on the activity of the mediation group he represents.

He obviously hinted at the lack of political will of the Minsk Group during the meeting with the Armenian foreign minister, where he said the co-chairs had nothing new to introduce to the parties of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"We don't have any new proposals. The visit is just an opportunity to hold talks," Warlick said in Yerevan, according to Armenia's Azatutyun radio.

The middlemen are expected to land on Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh territory as part of their visit to the region.

The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs - Warlick (US), Igor Popov (Russia) and Pierre Andrieu (France) - are still failing to accomplish their duties as mediators for the conflict's resolution. As Warlick's initial statements show, periodical visits of the middlemen to the region are just a routine far from developing renewed strategies to help clinch an agreement on the frozen conflict.

The calls to change the format of the Minsk Group or to completely replace it with a new structure will supposedly be heard throughout this year, since the mediators are still lacking a political will and new approaches towards the conflict's resolution.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus 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.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

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Follow Mushvig Mehdiyev on Twitter: @Mushviggo

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