OSCE Minsk Group Releases Statement About Visits to Baku, Yerevan, Stepanakert

YEREVAN—The Co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group released a statement on March 29, about their recent visits to Baku, Yerevan, and Stepanakert.

The Co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group released a statement on March 29, about their recent visits to Baku, Yerevan, and Stepanakert.

In the statement, the Co-chairs outline their meetings with the Presidents and Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia and what they call the “de facto authorities” of Nagorno-Karabagh.

Below is the statement in its entirety.

***

The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France and Richard Hoagland of the United States of America), together with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, traveled to Baku (March 11), Yerevan (March 27) and Nagorno-Karabagh (March 28).

The main purpose of the Co-Chairs’ visits to the region was to receive the most current detailed political and military information on the Line of Contact and the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, to discuss the implementation of agreements reached at 2016 Summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg and to address the next steps toward a settlement.

The Co-chairs met with the Presidents and Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia and the de facto authorities of Nagorno-Karabagh. They also visited territories around Nagorno-Karabagh. In their talks, the Co-chairs reiterated their deep concern over recent incidents along the Line of Contact, calling on the sides to exercise restraint in their rhetoric and in their actions. The Presidents laid out their positions on the Co-Chairs’ proposals to strengthen the ceasefire and to avoid further escalation of hostilities, particularly in light of the Novruz and Easter holidays. They expressed their commitment to continuing the negotiation process toward a political solution.

In their talks, the Co-chairs stressed the essential importance of continued support for Ambassador Kasprzyk’s mission and its expansion. The Co-chairs also emphasized their conviction that respect for the ceasefire is of the utmost importance for building an atmosphere of trust to enable further negotiations.

The Co-chairs will soon travel to Vienna to brief the members of the Minsk Group.

Guest Contributor

Guest Contributor

Guest contributions to the Armenian Weekly are informative articles or press releases written and submitted by members of the community.

3 Comments

  1. Gen o go + gen o go = gogo
    The co-chairs have to change their reports’ style, but can they or would they, that is the question?

  2. Sadly, the same old broken record.
    Nothing meaningful. No new initiative. No new proposal. No new plan of action except the stale line about respecting the ceasefire, which has been violated by the Azeris repeatedly.
    This is merely a farce. It is not constructive diplomacy to resolve a dispute.
    Vart Adjemian

  3. The OSCE Minsk Group can not express anything different until their respective governments change their policies, which is not on the immediate horizon. It is therefore up to us to do everything we can to survive the test of time. Our entire nation needs to be right behind our compatriots in Astsakh, in body and soul.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*