Clinton: NK settlement based on Helsinki Final Act elements

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her speech at the OSCE summit stated that OSCE should keep its efforts towards peaceful resolution of conflicts, Aysor.am correspondent reports from Astana.

Secretary Clinton announced that NK conflict should be settled based on non-use of force or threat of force, territorial integrity and self-determination, as well 6 elements announced by Presidents of US, Russia and France. They are a whole, and any attempt to select one of the principles is non constructive and will not contribute to the settlement.

Clinton stressed that conflicts should be resolved peacefully, and OSCE should increase efforts to prevent escalation of conflicts.

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.