Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 22
By Nigar Guliyeva- Trend:
The international community has switched its ambition from achieving a comprehensive solution and long lasting peace on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to simply avoiding war, said Kristian Vigenin, the OSCE PA Special Representative on the South Caucasus.
Vigenin made the remark when presenting his report at the winter session of the OSCE PA in Vienna on Feb.22, further voicing regret over lack of the progress on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution.
"That is not sustainable and has to be reversed. The OSCE PA can play a role but only when conditions for that are created, especially in the capitals of the countries concerned," he said.
Vigenin stressed that the OSCE PA can play a main or supporting role in holding of interparliamentary/ interinstitutional dialogue and dialogue between NGOs, people to people contacts.
Vigenin further noted that he has invested a lot of efforts to increase the role of OSCE PA in the South Caucasus by strengthening the coordination and cooperation with other relevant players, including the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group.
"The three Co-Chairs (from France, Russia and the United States) have declined several invitations to inform the OSCE PA on their work, even in informal formats. I could only achieve a meeting with them, when I was able to share my views on the issue and explain the possible added value of stronger involvement of parliamentarians in the process. We agreed to further exchange information about our activities but this could not lead to stronger engagement. Their work remains very closed, with rare press releases for the public which contain no substantive information," he said.
Vigenin hailed the fact that during these two years he had direct access to the OSCE Secretary General and enjoyed his full support.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.