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BAKU: Official Statement: OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Strongly Urged

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  • BAKU: Official Statement: OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Strongly Urged

    OFFICIAL STATEMENT: OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS STRONGLY URGED ALL PARTIES TO RESPECT THE CEASE-FIRE
    I.Huseynov

    Trend
    Sept 10 2010
    Azerbaijan

    The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassadors Igor Popov of
    Russia, Bernard Fassier of France, and Robert Bradtke of the United
    States strongly urged all parties to respect the cease-fire, OSCE
    Minsk Group's official statement says.

    While all parties reconfirmed their commitment to the 1994 cease-fire,
    the Co-Chairs reiterated that it is critical that this commitment is
    carried out in practice.

    The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs travelled to Baku, Yerevan, and
    Nagorno-Karabakh September 6-9.

    On September 8, with the facilitation of the Permanent Representative
    of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and the
    military authorities of all sides, the Co-Chairs crossed the Line of
    Contact (LoC) on foot, en route to Stepanakert/Khankhendi, to highlight
    that the LoC is not to become a permanent barrier between neighboring
    peoples and to demonstrate to all parties that the ceasefire of 1994
    must be strictly respected. This marked the first time the mediators
    have crossed the LoC since November 2001.

    The Co-Chairs held discussions with all parties regarding the
    previously agreed Field Assessment Mission to the territories
    surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, which they will conduct between late
    September and mid-October. They presented the elements of their
    mission, and they will finalize their preparations for the mission
    in the nearest future.

    The Co-Chairs welcomed the decision by Azerbaijan to postpone
    consideration of its resolution in the United Nations General
    Assembly. At the same time they reiterated that the OSCE Minsk
    Group remains the sole framework for a peaceful settlement of the
    Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

    Before they return to the region to carry out the Field Assessment
    Mission, the Co-Chairs will travel to Washington, D.C. and then to
    New York to work with the sides on the margins of the United Nations
    General Assembly, as they had previously announced.

    The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
    when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
    armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
    including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.

    Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
    co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. -
    are currently holding the peace negotiations.

    Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four
    resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
    occupied territories.




    From: A. Papazian
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