RA Foreign Minister: no stagnation in Karabakh conflict settlement

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian said positive dynamics can be observed in the Karabakh conflict settlement process.



"There's no stagnation in the process," he said during a joint news conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. "In 2009, 6 bilateral and 3 trilateral meetings were held at the level of Armenian and Azeri presidents. The number of meetings is in itself a proof of positive dynamics."



"Armenia stands for peaceful talks, as the only way to resolve the Karabakh conflict. Meetings between Armenian and Azerbaijani officials will be continued in near future in case the parities manage to preserve last year's positive dynamics and to expedite the settlement process," Minister Nalbandian said.



The Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) is a de facto independent republic located in the South Caucasus, bordering by Azerbaijan to the north and east, Iran to the south, and Armenia to the west.



After the Soviet Union established control over the area, in 1923 it formed the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) within the Azerbaijan SSR. In the final years of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan launched an ethnic cleansing which resulted in the Karabakh War that was fought from 1991 to 1994.



Since the ceasefire in 1994, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control of Nagorno Karabakh defense army.



Armenia and Azerbaijan have since been holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group.





Foreign ministers from the 56 OSCE participating states charted the way ahead for the OSCE-anchored debate on the future of European security known as the Corfu Process in a decision and a Ministerial Declaration adopted on December 2, 2009 at the Ministerial Council in Athens.



The ministers said they remained seriously concerned that the principles of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act and subsequent OSCE commitments are not fully respected and implemented.



"Our highest priority remains to re-establish our trust and confidence, as well as to recapture the sense of common purpose that brought together our predecessors in Helsinki almost 35 years ago," the statement said.



In the declaration, the ministers said they were concerned "that the use of force has not ceased to be considered as an option in settling disputes; that the danger of conflicts between states has not been eliminated, and armed conflicts have occurred even in the last decades".



They also adopted a statement urging the Minsk Group Co-Chair countries to sustain the positive dynamic of negotiations of the negotiations and aiming to finalize the Basic Principles on the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.



"We are convinced there is today a real opportunity to build a future of peace, stability and prosperity for the entire region," the statement said.