OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs to arrive in Yerevan

OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs Robert Bradtke (U.S.), Igor Popov (Russia) and Bernard Fassier (France) are today arriving in Yerevan where they will meet with Armenia’s high-ranking officials.

The Co-chairs will meet with President Serzh Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, MFA press office said.

Besides other issues, the Co-chairs’ meetings are expected to address the OSCE summit to be held between December 1 and 2 in Astana, with the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict on the agenda.

The Nagorno-Karabakh (armed) conflict broke out back in 1991, when, subsequent to the demand for self-determination of the Nagorno-Karabakh people, Azerbaijani authorities attempted to resolve the issue through ethnic cleansings, carried out by Soviet security forces (KGB special units) under the pretext of the implementation of the passport regime and by launching of large-scale military operations, which left thousands dead and caused considerable material damage. A cease-fire agreement was established in 1994. Negotiations on the settlement of the conflict are being conducted under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen (Russia, USA, France) and on the basis of their Madrid proposals, presented in November, 2007.

Azerbaijan has not yet implemented the 4 resolutions of the UN Security Council adopted in 1993, by continuing to provoke arms race in the region and openly violating on of the basic principles of the international law non-use of force or threat of force.