Panorama, Armenia
June 16 2011
B. Fassier: If the sides do not accept Madrid Proposals, the mediators
will have to put forward a new settlement concept
`If the sides do not accept the Basic Principles on the basis of the
Madrid Proposals in the near future, the mediators will have to put
forward a new settlement concept,' OSCE Minsk Group French co-chair
Bernard Fassier said at hearings on the situation in the European
Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee on 15 June.
In his speech French diplomat outlined the history of the settlement
proposals, made over the years by the Minsk Group. In the late 1990s
and in the early 2000s co-chairs appeared with recommendations which
were first turned down by Armenia and then by Azerbaijan. Thus,
Fassier said, the mediators decided to make a proposal to resolve
issues `the solution of which seemed possible'.
He said the co-chairs had hoped to achieve a breakthrough in 2009, and
"exactly because of this the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairing countries for the first time took upon themselves the
responsibility of publicizing the basic principles of the settlement".
Bernard Fassier said that "only in early 2010 did Azerbaijan give its
consent to the updated version of the proposals", after which the
mediators suggested a few modifications to the sides.
"Thus, today we have neared the end of the third cycle of Karabakh
conflict settlement," the diplomat said.
From: A. Papazian
June 16 2011
B. Fassier: If the sides do not accept Madrid Proposals, the mediators
will have to put forward a new settlement concept
`If the sides do not accept the Basic Principles on the basis of the
Madrid Proposals in the near future, the mediators will have to put
forward a new settlement concept,' OSCE Minsk Group French co-chair
Bernard Fassier said at hearings on the situation in the European
Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee on 15 June.
In his speech French diplomat outlined the history of the settlement
proposals, made over the years by the Minsk Group. In the late 1990s
and in the early 2000s co-chairs appeared with recommendations which
were first turned down by Armenia and then by Azerbaijan. Thus,
Fassier said, the mediators decided to make a proposal to resolve
issues `the solution of which seemed possible'.
He said the co-chairs had hoped to achieve a breakthrough in 2009, and
"exactly because of this the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairing countries for the first time took upon themselves the
responsibility of publicizing the basic principles of the settlement".
Bernard Fassier said that "only in early 2010 did Azerbaijan give its
consent to the updated version of the proposals", after which the
mediators suggested a few modifications to the sides.
"Thus, today we have neared the end of the third cycle of Karabakh
conflict settlement," the diplomat said.
From: A. Papazian