The OSCE PA considers the status quo on the conflict “unacceptable” and thinks it has to be soon changed peacefully, the Special Representative of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly on the South Caucasus, Kristian Vigenin, said at a meeting with the leaders of some parties represented in the Azerbaijani parliament, APA reported.
Vigenin said he understands the Azerbaijani side’s dissatisfaction with the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group.
"There is no progress in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The problem must always be kept in focus, not just in the case of ceasefire violations. I will do my own part for the conflict to be resolved. However, that is not enough. Not only OSCE Minsk Group members but other countries should also contribute to the settlement of the conflict. We ourselves, as parliamentarians, have to come up with certain initiatives and proposals. In one such initiative, I met with IDPs from Zangilan during my visit,” he said.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.
A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.
The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.
Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCEMinsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in December 1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.
Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.
Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.
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