17:29 . 07/06
On the background of the recent tension around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the OSCE co-chairing countries pin hopes in the coming meeting to take place in Paris. All are worried, they condemn and make calls without a concrete addressee.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed a concern first in Armenia and then in Azerbaijan on the incident on Karabakh-Azerbaijan border repeating the expression which is already well familiar to all of us: “I urge the parties to refrain from use of force”.
“US continues to state that the negotiation process should base on the Helsinki principles and none of them can be separated,” she said in Yerevan.
In Baku she said: “Use of force can lead to unpredictable consequences, which must be stopped. We must take efforts in that direction and must follow that the ceasefire agreement is observed”.
Before the US State Secretary should leave for Turkey, the other co-chairing country issued a statement condemning the attacks on Armenia-Azerbaijan and Karabakh-Azerbaijan border.
The statement of the French foreign ministry particularly says: ”France, as an OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing country, expresses its deep worry over the armed incidents on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which left 8 people dead. The conflicting sides must fully comply with the peaceful settlement of the conflict based on the UN Convention and Helsinki Final Act, which particularly refers to non-use of force, the right of self-determination of nations and territorial integrity”.
Keeping to the accepted formulations and contents Russian foreign ministry’s representative Alexander Lukashevich passed Russia’s worry: “We consider further straining of the situation inadmissible and we must continue to help the parties in the matter to find ways of peaceful settlement”.
It became known on the days of Hillary Clinton’s visit that a meeting with the participation of Azerbaijani, Armenian presidents, as well as OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will take place on June 18 in Paris. In Baku the Secretary of State announced that during the meeting new approaches of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement will be presented.
The other two co-chairing countries are also optimistic about the next meeting with such a format. Their delegates to Minsk Group, the three co-chairs, will perhaps issue a joint statement at the end of the meeting, but its contents will hardly differ from the previous ones.
