TODAY.AZ / Politics

Unresolved conflicts remain priority of Germany's presidency of OSCE

27 July 2016 [16:00] - TODAY.AZ

/By Azernews/

By Gunay Hasanova

Germany, during its presidency in the OSCE, has decided to focus on unresolved conflicts in the OSCE area, including Nagorno-Karabakh and Transnistria.

German Foreign Minister and Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE, Frank-Walter Steinmeier made the remark after talks with Moldovan Prime Minister Pavel Filip in Chisinau on July 26.

Steinmeier said at the news conference that the OSCE has found itself in a very complicated situation.

“There were a lot of new challenges, new conflicts in a situation, where even the old ones are not settled. The old conflicts, which we call "frozen", are not "frozen” at all. There are always an escalation risks, transition of these conflicts into a hot stage. We have seen this in the example of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Therefore, the German chairmanship of the OSCE has set a goal to solve the "frozen" conflicts in order to exclude such risks", Steinmeier said.

The minister called for the settlement of the Transnistrian conflict through "giving the Transnistrian region a special status, respecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Moldova."

The German chairmanship earlier asserted that Germany favors the intensification of the negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, it failed to make any move to achieve a breakthrough in the peace process.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/152953.html

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