Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 14
By Gulgiz Muradova Trend:
All steps regarding a settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are on the table, the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship told Trend.
Stressing that the OSCE is the main platform where relevant discussions take place, the Austrian OSCE Chairmanship added that it closely followed the meeting of Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Geneva Oct.16.
"The Chairmanship hopes this renewed engagement will be reflected in concrete steps to peacefully resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. All steps regarding a settlement are on the table and it is now to the parties to take corresponding decisions. The OSCE Co-Chairs can only facilitate this process, and following the Presidential Summit in Geneva we see now some positive dynamics," the message reads.
The Austrian OSCE Chairmanship further emphasized that after the high-level discussions in Geneva, planning for peace should be the focus of all endeavors.
"During the Presidential Summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg in 2016, concrete proposals for confidence-building measures were made. Among them was the expansion of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office on the conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference, which in principle was accepted by the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan," it said, underlining continued readiness to further support the efforts for peace on all sides.
The OSCE devotes considerable resources, including through the work of the Minsk Group, led by its co-chairs, and the important activities on the ground of the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office, to the search for a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, it added.
Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in a conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.
In 1993, the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, but Armenia has not fulfilled them to this day.
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