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Trend, Azerbaijan
May 26 2012
Former special representative: EU has great potential for mediation in
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement
Azerbaijan, Baku, May 26 / Trend /
The European Union has a great potential for mediation in the
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, former EU Special
Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby said, News-Armenia
reported on Saturday.
"When I was EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, I stood
for the EU to take a more active role in resolving the conflicts,"
Semneby said during the international conference "Caucasus -2011
"organized by the Caucasus Institute. "There is a great potential to
seriously deal with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."
He said that the EU's mediation must be implemented to support the
OSCE Minsk Group, rather than to compete with it.
Semneby stressed that the relative calm in the conflict zone does not
guarantee a similar situation in the future.
"The fact that it is more or less quiet in the conflict zone now does
not mean that it will be so over the next decade," he said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven 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 peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.
May 26 2012
Former special representative: EU has great potential for mediation in
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement
Azerbaijan, Baku, May 26 / Trend /
The European Union has a great potential for mediation in the
settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, former EU Special
Representative for the South Caucasus Peter Semneby said, News-Armenia
reported on Saturday.
"When I was EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, I stood
for the EU to take a more active role in resolving the conflicts,"
Semneby said during the international conference "Caucasus -2011
"organized by the Caucasus Institute. "There is a great potential to
seriously deal with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."
He said that the EU's mediation must be implemented to support the
OSCE Minsk Group, rather than to compete with it.
Semneby stressed that the relative calm in the conflict zone does not
guarantee a similar situation in the future.
"The fact that it is more or less quiet in the conflict zone now does
not mean that it will be so over the next decade," he said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven 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 peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.