OSCE Chairman meets with representatives of RA NA parties

February 16, 2010 - 19:56 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net -
On February 16, Vice-Speaker of RA NA Arevik Petrosyan and representatives of NA parties met with Kazakhstan's delegation, headed by OSCE Chairman, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Kanat Saudabayev.

During the meeting, Petrosyan attached importance to Armenia-Kazakhstan and Armenia-OSCE cooperation. Vice-speaker also commended the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group aimed at peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict, in particular focusing on the principle of self-determination.

In turn, Kanat Saudabayev stressed his visit is aimed to become familiar to political forces' positions over Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, since only goodwill and mutual concessions help to resolve the conflict.

According to the Secretary of the Prosperous Armenia parliamentary group Aram Safaryan , the Karabakh conflict should be resolved based on three international principles, giving particular importance to the right of self-determination.

The head of the ARFD parliamentary group Vahan Hovhannisyan , proposed OSCE to hold monitoring of democratic institutions in Karabakh, which would be the best step towards the conflict resolution.

According to the head of the Heritage parliamentary group Stepan Safaryan , the recognition of Nagorno Karabakh independence is inevitable. He emphasized the importance to include Karabakh in negotiations, otherwise the final decision would not be reached.

The issue should be resolved only by peaceful means, OSCE Chairman said, press service of the National Assembly of Armenia reported.

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.