OSCE CiO’s regional visit is a usual practice

February 17, 2010 - 15:56 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net -
The visit of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Kanat Saudabayev to the South Caucasus is a normal practice.

“Each OSCE presidency states about its priorities, Kazakhstan named the Karabakh settlement as one of its priorities, though the conflict is resolved within the framework of OSCE Minsk Group,” Stepan Grigoryan, head of Analytical Center on Globalization and Regional Cooperation told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

According to Grigoryan, the visit of the OSCE CiO to the region to get familiar with positions of conflicting parties is quite normal and has also a historical context. “Initially, Kazakhstan was interested in the Karabakh settlement", the expert said.

As Grigoryan mentioned, it is very good that Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister met not only with the leadership of the country, but with representatives of all parliamentary political forces.

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out as result of the ethnic cleansing launched by the Azeri authorities in the final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from 1991 (when the Nagorno Karabakh Republic was proclaimed) to 1994 (when a ceasefire was sealed by Armenia, NKR and Azerbaijan). Most of Nagorno Karabakh and a security zone consisting of 7 regions are now under control of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.

OSCE

The world\'s biggest regional organization dealing with security issues, OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) unites 56 countries situated in North America, Europe and Central Asia.\r\n\r\nIts member state are: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France Great Britain, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Macedonia, Malta¸ Moldova, Monaco Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Roumania, San-Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United States, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vatican.\r\n\r\nPartner countries include: Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Marocco, Mongolia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia.\r\n\r\nArmenia became an OSCE member state on January 30, 1992.