TODAY.AZ / Politics

Germany backs negotiation efforts of OSCE MG co-chairs

24 June 2016 [13:27] - TODAY.AZ

/By Azernews/

By Gunay Camal

Germany, the current OSCE chair-country, has voiced its support to the negotiation efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group and its co-chairs over the resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

OSCE Chairperson-in Office, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced his country’s position following his meeting with the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassadors Igor Popov and Pierre Andrieu, and with Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office on the conflict dealt in Berlin on June 23.

The sides have considered the results of the summit of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the Russian Federation in St. Petersburg on June 20 and the agreement reached there about bringing additional international observers into the conflict zone.

The aim of the agreed increase is to stabilize the situation in the conflict zone and to create an atmosphere conducive to fostering the peace process.

While Steinmeier welcomed the recent improvements in the upholding of the ceasefire, the Berlin meeting participants stated that a sustainable ceasefire and a return to political negotiations remain indispensable.

Steinmeier, who will soon visit the region, added that Germany will continue to work actively towards a settlement of the conflict.

The German chairmanship earlier asserted that Germany favors the intensification of the negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, it failed to make any move to achieve a breakthrough in the peace process.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Meanwhile, James Warlick, OSCE Minsk Group's U.S. co-chair stated that meetings between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia bring us closer to a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"We are hopeful that the situation along the line of contact will remain stable. These developments are important and allow us to make progress on a comprehensive settlement", Warlick, who was absent in the Berlin meeting, told Trend.

Presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, Vladimir Putin, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan adopted a joint statement following a meeting in St. Petersburg June 20.

Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents confirmed the agreement reached during the Vienna meeting May 16 on stabilizing the situation in the conflict zone and creating an atmosphere to push forward the peace process.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/152058.html

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