Andrzej Kasprzyk: Karabakh conflict cannot be considered "frozen"

27.03.2010 18:50 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict cannot be considered
"frozen". In fact, only the solution is frozen, Personal
Representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk said.

`Since last year we have seen the most intensive phase of the
negotiation process to date: the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
met six times in 2009, three times in expanded format with President
Medvedev, and once so far in 2010, again in the presence of President
Medvedev. The personal involvement of President Medvedev resulted in
the first-ever
statement on Nagorno-Karabakh signed by the Presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan – the so-called Moscow Declaration of November 2008. If
this conflict were in fact to become "hot" and hostilities to resume,
obviously the international community would be involved even to a
greater extent.’

`I am responsible for keeping the Chairperson-in- Office informed and
up-to-date on the situation on the ground and the current state of the
talks. Acting on his behalf, I work in support of the peace process,
maintaining contact with the parties, promoting confidence- and
security-building measures. I also participate in the Minsk Group
Co-Chairs’ visits and their meetings with the leaderships. One of the
most important parts of the process is maintaining dialogue.
Facilitating that dialogue is one of my main functions. My knowledge
of the situation on the ground is also used occasionally by the
mediators. Since I am on the ground, I occasionally convey information
on behalf of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to the leaderships and vice
versa. The monitoring conducted by my Office has on occasion decreased
growing tension that could, in turn, have obstructed the
negotiations.’

`Confidentiality is crucial to any process. A certain element of trust
has to be fostered so as to maintain a dialogue between leaders of
countries that technically remain in a state of war with each other.
Before an agreement is reached, it would be difficult to put it up for
public discussion, as this could torpedo the process. For that reason,
the leaders have
requested that the process be completely confidential,’ Andrzej
Kasprzyk concluded.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict broke out back in 1991, when, subsequent
to the demand for self-determination of the Nagorno-Karabakh people,
Azerbaijani authorities attempted to resolve the issue through ethnic
cleansings, carried out by Soviet security forces (KGB special units)
under the pretext of the implementation of the passport regime and by
launching of large-scale military operations, which left thousands
dead and caused considerable material damage. A cease-fire agreement
was established in 1994. Negotiations on the settlement of the
conflict are being conducted under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairmen (Russia, USA, France) and on the basis of their
Madrid proposals, presented in November, 2007.

Azerbaijan has not yet implemented the 4 resolutions of the UN
Security Council adopted in 1993, by continuing to provoke arms race
in the region and openly violating on of the basic principles of the
international law non-use of force or threat of force.

The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 to encourage a peaceful,
negotiated resolution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The Minsk
Group is headed by a Co-Chairmanship consisting of France, Russia and
the United States. The main objectives of the Minsk Process are as
follows: Providing an appropriate framework for conflict resolution in
the way of assuring the negotiation process supported by the Minsk
Group; Obtaining conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the
cessation of the armed conflict in order to permit the convening of
the Minsk Conference; Promoting the peace process by deploying OSCE
multinational peacekeeping forces.