OSCE MG HOPES TO BRING TOGETHER AZERBAIJANI, ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
May 26 2014
26 May 2014, 14:16 (GMT+05:00)
By Sara Rajabova
The OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair from the U.S. is hopeful to bring
together the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents.
James Warlick told this to Trend Agency while commenting on the
co-chairs’ recent visit to the region.
“The success or failure of the peace process depends on the political
will of the sides. I look forward to working with my Russian and
French colleagues to continue bringing new ideas to the table and
helping the sides find their way into real negotiations on a peace
agreement,” Warlick said.
He said he hopes to find a way to bring the two presidents together
in the near future to step up these efforts.
Warlick went on to add that the primary goal of the co-chairs’ recent
trip to the region was to visit Azerbaijan’s Kelbajar, Lachin, and
Nagorno-Karabakh regions occupied by Armenia.
“We look forward to meeting soon with Azerbaijan’s president, in the
region or another convenient location, to continue working on the
substance of our negotiations,” he said.
The co-chairs Jacques Faure (France), James Warlick (U.S.) and
Igor Popov (Russia) and the Personal Representative of the OSCE
Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, travelled to the region
May 16-19.
They were joined by Ambassador Pierre Andrieu, who will take over as
French co-chair in June.
During the visit, they discussed the process of the peaceful settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The main objective of their visit was to review the situation in
Azerbaijan’s occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, Kelbajar, and Lachin regions,
in accordance with their mandate.
Warlick recently wrote in his Twitter page that he will meet OSCE
Chairman, Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter before his visit
to South Caucasus region.
Armenian media reported that Burkhalter will visit South Caucasus in
early June.
The precarious cease-fire between Azerbaijan and Armenia was reached
after a lengthy war that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis and
has been in place between the two South Caucasus countries since 1994.
Since the beginning of the hostilities, Armenian armed forces have
occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized
territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding
districts.
The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia’s
withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but none of them have been
enforced to this day.
Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the US through the OSCE
Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed
by the Minsk Group co-chairs dubbed the Madrid Principles. The
negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
