Didier Burkhalter remembers 20 years of Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire

The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Swiss
Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, welcomed the statement made today by the
OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in commemoration of the ceasefire that entered into
force on 12 May 1994, the OSCE press service reports.

He expressed his gratitude to the Co-Chairs
(Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Jacques Faure of France, and
James Warlick of the United States of America) and to Ambassador Andrzej
Kasprzyk, his Personal Representative on the conflict dealt with by the OSCE
Minsk Conference, for their tireless mediation efforts.

The Chairperson-in-Office recalled that the ceasefire
of 1994 had put an end to a war whose consequences still impair the everyday
life of all too many people in the South Caucasus. Violent incidents at the
Line of Contact and at the international border remain frequent and no
settlement of the conflict could be found so far.

Burkhalter joined the Co-Chairs in their appeal to
Armenians and Azerbaijanis "to take the necessary steps towards
peace". He reconfirmed the full support of the Swiss OSCE Chairmanship for
the mediation process led by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

The Co-Chairs of the OSCE
Minsk Group have issued the following statement on the twentieth anniversary of
the ceasefire agreement.  "On the
twentieth anniversary of the 1994 ceasefire agreement, the OSCE Minsk Group
Co-Chairs invite the people of the region to reflect upon the legacy of the
past two decades". They say that the ceasefire agreement did not resolve
the underlying conflict. "It left the territories surrounding
Nagorno-Karabakh occupied and failed to provide a path forward on status for
Nagorno- Karabakh". They think that a settlement will have to include the
elements outlined by the Presidents of the co-chair countries in statements
from 2009 to 2013, which include the return of the territories surrounding
Nagorno-Karabakh, interim status for Nagorno- Karabakh guaranteeing security
and self-governance, a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, final
status of Nagorno-Karabakh to be determined in the future by a legally-binding
expression of will, the right of all internally-displaced persons and refugees
to return, and international security guarantees, including a peacekeeping
operation.