OSCE Head sits with Karabakh middlemen prior to region trip

Source: AzerNews

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara held a meeting with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on June 14, ahead of his visit to the region, the OSCE website reported last week.

Kozhara and Igor Popov of Russia, Jacques Faure of France and Ian Kelly of the United States as well as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Personal Representative Andrzej Kasprzyk discussed issues relating to the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement process.

The Minsk Group co-chairs briefed Kozhara on the current situation around the negotiations on the Basic Principles of the settlement as well as outcomes of recent meetings with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

They also exchanged views on the timing of the OSCE chairman's visit to Azerbaijan and Armenia taking into consideration the importance that Ukraine, as the OSCE chair, attaches to the fruitful outcomes of the visit, including substantive discussions at the highest level.

The Chairperson-in-Office reconfirmed the readiness of Ukraine to contribute to the efforts of the Minsk Group co-chairs and the Personal Representative aimed at the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Earlier, Kozhara said Ukraine's OSCE chairmanship lends its full support to the efforts of the mediating Minsk Group co-chairs in assisting the parties to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He also said that on June 17-20, during a visit to the South Caucasus region, he will call for more active peace negotiations.

Kozhara will stay in Azerbaijan on June 17-18, in Georgia on June 18-19, and in Armenia on June 19-20. During the visit, he will meet with the leaders of those countries and representatives of political parties to discuss the pressing issues related to OSCE activities in the region.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against the neighboring country. Since a lengthy war between the two South Caucasus countries that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis and ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Peace talks brokered by Minsk Group co-chairs representing the United States, Russia and France have been largely fruitless so far.

The negotiations are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles, also known as Basic Principles. The document envisions a return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; determining the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh; a corridor linking Armenia to the region; and the right of all internally displaced persons to return home.