Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 19 / Trend , J.Babayeva/
Azerbaijan would like to believe that any new co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group will make every effort to restore justice and ensure the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, Head of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration Political Analysis and Dataware Department, Elnur Aslanov told Trend on Aug. 19.
The Russian and American co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will be changed in 2009, Russian Co-Chair Yuri Merzlyakov told Trend earlier.
Replacing the mediators is a technical issue, because the rotation of personnel concerns all areas, said Aslanov. According to Aslanov, reshuffles always take place in the diplomatic sphere, respectively. "One cannot remember the names of all co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. In any case, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are exponents of wills of the state that are involved in resolving the conflict. At the same time, the Minsk Group co-chairs are the people that can say their word in determining the policies of their states," he said.
Replacing the co-chairs, of course, takes time, because a new person should learn, understand and grasp the essence and history of the conflict, as well as how it says "join the team", the head of the department believes.
But besides this, he said there has already been the way passed and issues discussed. "Accordingly, any new co-chair will continue the agenda discussed earlier. Therefore, the replacement of the co-chairs should be considered in the context of job rotation, and no more. But we would like to believe that any new co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group will make every effort to restore justice and ensure the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan," said Aslanov.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.