OSCE MG countries again urge Baku, Yerevan to peacefully settle NK

Interfax, Russia
March 23 2012

OSCE Minsk Group countries again urge Baku, Yerevan to peacefully
settle Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

BAKU. March 23

The foreign ministers from the OSCE Minsk Group countries have called
on Baku and Yerevan to display political will to peacefully settle the
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

“We urge the leaders of the sides to complete work as soon as possible
on the framework agreement and subsequent final settlement – based on
the Helsinki Final Act principles of non-use or threat of force,
territorial integrity, and self-determination and equal rights of
peoples; the United Nations Charter; and norms and principles of
international law – which will allow the entire region to move beyond
the status quo toward a more secure and prosperous future,” says a
statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe
circulated on Thursday.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s status is the stumbling block in the negotiations.
In its settlement, the mediators are trying to combine two
international law principles, i.e. the principle of territorial
integrity pursued by Baku and the nations’ right to
self-determination, which is Yerevan’s approach.