Growing tension in Nagorno-Karabak worries OSCE

By Anahanum Hidayatova

The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic expressed concern about the growth of tension in Nagorno-Karabakh, while speaking with a report at the UN Security Council meeting.

“I am particularly concerned over the recent developments related to Nagorno-Karabakh,” Dacic said. “Last year’s three meetings between the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan were an encouraging indication of a renewed appetite for dialogue. However, since then we have observed a sharp deterioration of the situation on the ground and the political process has slowed down.”

He said that Serbia’s OSCE Chairmanship will continue to support the efforts of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to facilitate “high-level meetings and to explore, together with the parties, all avenues that may lead to a long-overdue settlement”.

In Munich earlier this month, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office had met with the international mediators and the Personal Representative to discuss further steps to decrease tensions in the region.

“On that occasion, I discussed the situation also with the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Ivica Dacic said. “I shall continue my engagement with the leaders in the region when I visit them in a few months.”

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

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