Prevention of new war in Karabakh priority of world community, Kazimirov says

YEREVAN, January 14. /ARKA/. Prevention of a new war in Karabakh is the priority of the world community, Ambassador Valdimir Kazimirov, former Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, said during the international conference on the Black Sea cooperation in Yerevan.

He believes priorities of Yerevan, Stepanakert and Baku are known to everyone: for Armenians, this is the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, for Azerbaijani people it is the issue of the occupied territories and return of migrants.
In contrast to “one-time conflicts”, Karabakh has a tragic prehistory, which imposes both a quick settlement of the conflict and prevention of bloodsheds between Armenia and Azerbaijan, according to Kazimirov.

He believes the official Baku itches for a new war and revenge. This is why, the world community should focus on the war threats hysteria of Azerbaijan, publicity campaign of the military budget, armaments drive, double-faced attitude towards incidents on the borderline, “total” negativism, refusal to establish contacts with Armenians and restrictions of the freedom of the press, according to Kazimirov.

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

The two-week international conference on the prospects of the Black Sea regional cooperation and security opened in Yerevan on January 14. The organizers of the event are the Armenian International Policy Research Group (AIPRG), sponsored by NATO, OSCE, the Union of the YSU Graduates and the Embassy of Netherlands.

EU Special Representative to the South Caucasus Peter Semneby, former Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador Vladimir Kazimirov, as well as acting US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza are among the participants to the conference.

Representatives of the Royal Institute of Foreign Affairs and the International Institute for Strategic Studies (UK), Reuters information Agency, RAND Corporation, Brookings Institution, Center for Strategic and International Studies (UK), the US Enterprise Institute, Jamestown Fund, US Department of State, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Great Britain and EU will participate in the Black Sea discussions.
Delegations from Turkey, Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Russia are invited to participate in the conference. Z. Sh. –0--