OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to visit the region in late may

YEREVAN, May 20. /ARKA/. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on Karabakh peace settlement ware visiting the region at the end of May, press office of Armenian foreign ministry reported after the meeting of Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers with the mediators.

Armenia’s Nalbandyan and Azerbaijan’s Mamedyarov met with Jacques Faure (France), Igor Popov (Russia), Ian Kelly (USA) and the representative of OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk in Krakov Friday. 

The sides discussed possible ways for the peace process to advance. The ministers exchanged views on the current situation and confirmed their obligations to support the peace in the region.

The co-chairs, in their turn, stressed the necessity to refrain fr om actions and statements that may provoke tension and jeopardize the peace process.

A number of measures for building trust and atmosphere of reconciliation have been also discussed with the ministers. 

“The co-chairs will visit the region at the end of May to discuss these issues with the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan”, says the report.

The Karabakh conflict started in 1988 when prevailingly Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh declared withdrawal from Azerbaijan. On December 10, 1991, a referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh wh ere 99.89% voted for independence from Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan responded by large-scale military operations that led to loss of control not only over Nagorno-Karabakh itself, but also over seven adjoining areas. About 25-30 thousands people were killed and about a million had to leave their homes during the military operations.

A trilateral cease-fire agreement was signed on May 12, 2004, and has been followed since then.

The ongoing Karabakh peace process started in 1992 under auspices of OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the USA, Russia and France.–0—