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Nagorno Garabagh

OSCE PA says there are shortcomings in protracted conflicts

13 March 2018 08:51 (UTC +04:00)

The OSCE is actively engaged in resolution of all conflicts in the region, said the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA), George Tsereteli, who is on a visit to Baku, APA reports.

One of the main priorities of the OSCE PA is the mediation mission and peaceful resolution of conflicts, Tsereteli noted.

“We openly declare that unfortunately, there are shortcomings in many areas, and primarily in protracted conflicts. This also concerns the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” he said.

The Parliamentary Assembly supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs towards resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Tsereteli, adding. “There is no other mechanism to solve this conflict and the only way is peaceful settlement.”

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 OSCE Minsk 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.