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Slovak FM: OSCE will use opportunities created by positive impulses in Karabakh settlement process

10 January 2019 [14:43] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews


By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The Minsk Group, the activities of which have become known as the Minsk Process, spearheads the OSCE's efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It is co-chaired by France, Russia, and the United States.

On January 1, Slovakia assumed the Chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Throughout this year, Slovakia will set the tone of this, the biggest regional security organization in the world, with 57 participating states and 11 partners for cooperation on three continents.

OSCE will use opportunities created by positive impulses in the process of Karabakh settlement, Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said at a briefing in Vienna.

As he mentioned, the main problems in the OSCE region, and, in fact, throughout the world, require greater cooperation and greater dialogue than ever.

“Slovakia intends to be fair and honest as a partner and mediator during its OSCE chairmanship in 2019. We will focus on issues such as mediation in conflict resolution and conflict prevention, as well as their impact on people. We need to prepare for a safer future,” added Laichak.

The Minsk Group’s Co-Chairs visit Nagorno-Karabakh region regularly to conduct high-level talks with the parties to the conflict, and hold meetings with the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and the Minsk Group members to brief them on the process.

They are mandated to provide an appropriate framework for conflict resolution in the way of assuring the negotiation process; to obtain conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the cessation of the armed conflict in order to permit the convening of the Minsk Conference, and to promote the peace process by deploying OSCE multinational peacekeeping forces.

For nearly 25 years, the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem are wasted and bring no results. Unless the inactivity of the Minsk Group and non-constructive position of Armenia stops, the finding of a solution seems to be impossible.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by laying territorial claims on the country. Since the war in the early 1990s, 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.

To this day, Armenia has not implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/177927.html

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