Nagorno Garabagh

Nagorno Garabagh

OSCE PA draft resolution urges Karabakh conflict parties to return to negotiation table

16 May 2017 10:42 (UTC +04:00)

The report “Enhancing Mutual Trust and Co-operation for Peace and Prosperity in the OSCE Region” by Margareta Cederfelt, MP from Sweden, and a newly-developed draft resolution will be discussed at the annual meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to be held in Minsk on July 5-9.

A meeting of the OSCE PA Committee on Political Affairs and Security will be held on July 6, said a message posted on the organization’s website, APA reported.

The report and draft resolution also refer to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, noting that the 2016 April clashes in the territories around Nagorno-Karabakh and the numerous recent violations of the ceasefire on the line of contact are cause for concern.

“The OSCE, through the work of the Minsk Group and the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office on the conflict dealt with by the Minsk Conference, Ambassador Andrezj Kaspryzk, should utilize the full potential of conflict resolution mechanisms, including the Parliamentary Assembly, to stabilize the situation and work towards a comprehensive peace agreement. We regret the lack of progress towards the settlement of the conflict. A return to the negotiation table by all parties is needed to avoid further military confrontation and de-escalate the situation,” says the report.

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.