Austria ready to support peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict

By Azernews

By Gunay Hasanova

Austria, as a future co-chair of the OSCE, stands ready to support Armenia and Azerbaijan in their search for a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz made the remark in an interview with Armenpress published on November 21.

“It is probably too early to speak about concrete initiatives [for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict] – a lot will depend on the developments in the region,” Kurz said. “Vienna was the venue for the Presidential summit [the meeting of Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev] in May this year, and we are always happy to host negotiations again if there is a wish. We are not members of the [OSCE] Minsk Group, but we will do our best to support the Minsk Process.”

Austria will take over the OSCE chairmanship in January 2017.  Germany is the current chair at the organization, under which the Minsk Group operates.

The OSCE Minsk Group, the activities of which have become known as the Minsk Process, works to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for over two decades, but in vain.

Answering the question what prospects he sees for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as acting chairman of the OSCE, Kurz said that “there exists no military solution to this conflict, and all parties involved should do their utmost to cooperate, establish trust and dialogue, and to focus on diplomacy rather than military action.”

“Another outbreak of violence would be fatal and the international community is not in favor of that, everyone – from Moscow to Washington – is clear on this issue,” he added. “A number of proposals to help establish peace have been on the table for some time already, and a few ideas for confidence-building measures have been established more recently that are awaiting their implementation.”

Earlier Kurz assured that resolution of conflicts in the East of Ukraine, Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Transnistria will be among the priorities of Vienna’s chairmanship at the OSCE.

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. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.