Serbia’s position on Karabakh issue remains unchanged

PanARMENIAN.Net - Serbia welcomes the December 6, 2011 joint statement by the heads of delegation of OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries and the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan made during the 18th OSCE ministerial council in Vilnius.

Statement by Serbia’s Foreign Ministry implies that in 2009, during the ministerial council in Athens, all participating states including Serbia supported the statement of the 17th ministerial council in Athens on Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement based on inter-alia, “non-use of force or threat of force, territorial integrity, equal rights and self-determination of peoples.”

This is the position of Serbia which will remain unchanged ones it assumes OSCE chairmanship-in-office.

On the occasion of the OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Vilnius, the Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries (Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov, Secretary of State of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Minister for European Affairs of France Jean Leonetti) and the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov and Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian reaffirmed the importance of reaching a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Noting the May 2011 statement of their Presidents at Deauville, which urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to finalize the Basic Principles for the Peaceful Settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, the Heads of Delegation of the Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries expressed regret that the parties have been unable to take this decisive step. The three Heads of Delegation reiterated that there can be no military solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and that the United Nations Charter, the Principles of the Helsinki Final Act, and the elements outlined in the joint statements of their Presidents at L’Aquila in July 2009 and Muskoka in June 2010 offer the way for all sides to move beyond the unacceptable status quo to reach a peaceful settlement. In light of the intensive negotiations conducted since the 2007 OSCE Ministerial Council in Madrid, including at the highest level, the three Heads of Delegation urged the parties to give further careful consideration to the proposals that the Co-Chair countries have provided to them.