OSCE chairman to contribute to elaboration of mechanism for investigation of Karabakh contact line incidents
04.06.2014,
17:41
Didier Burkhalter, the president of Switzerland and the OSCE chairman-in-office, intends to contribute to elaboration of a mechanism for investigation of incidents on the Karabakh conflict contact line.
YEREVAN, June 4. /ARKA/. Didier Burkhalter, the president of Switzerland and the OSCE chairman-in-office, intends to contribute to elaboration of a mechanism for investigation of incidents on the Karabakh conflict contact line.
Speaking today at a joint news conference with his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan after the two presidents met in Yerevan, Burkhalter said that during the period of its chairmanship in OSCE his country will also try to strengthen the ceasefire regime.
He said he doesn’t consider the status quo as possibility and added that everything should be done to move toward peace step by step.
Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when 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 secession from Azerbaijan.
Afterwards, large-scale military operations began. As a result, Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions adjacent to it.
Some 30,000 people were killed in this war and about one million people fled their homes.
On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations.
Since 1992, talks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group are being held over peaceful settlement of the conflict. The group is co-chaired by USA, Russia and France. -0---
