Kazimirov: frequent rotation of OSCE Minsk group co-chairs doesn’t hobble Karabakh conflict settlement

YEREVAN, January 14. /ARKA/. Frequent rotation of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs doesn’t hobble Karabakh conflict settlement, Vladimir Kazimirov, former co-chair of the Minsk Group, said on Monday as met journalists in Yerevan.

“Rotation of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs is very natural process. Co-chairs can’t carry out their duty lifelong. Any diplomat’s career is in periodically changing portfolio”, he said.

Kazimirov said that new co-chairs still need time for getting familiar with the matter.

“However this can’t hamper the conflict settlement – the thing is in conflicting sides, not mediators. Mediators can only promote the conflict solution, and the sides have to find a solution”, he said.

The Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Nagorno Karabakh, mainly populated by Armenians, declared its secession from Azerbaijan.

On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a referendum took place in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority of the population (99.89%) voted for independence from Azerbaijan.

Afterwards, large-scale military operations began, as a result of which Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions adjacent to it.

On May 12, 1994 after the signing of the Bishkek cease-fire agreement, the military operations were stopped.
The war took lives of 25000 to 30000 and 1 million people fled their homes.

Since 1992, negotiations over the peaceful settlement of the conflict have been carried out within the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by the USA, Russia and France. M.V.-0---