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Muttonen: OSCE PA can help address contemporary challenges, conflicts

24 February 2017 [11:34] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews


By Rashid Shirinov

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA), which is a platform for cooperation, dialogue and search for compromise, is able to find a solution to many contemporary challenges.

OSCE PA President Christine Muttonen made the remark while addressing the winter session of the Assembly on February 23.

She noted there was an escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 2016 on the contact line between the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, where people are still dying. She also added that the aggressive rhetoric complicates the search for a peaceful settlement.

“The OSCE PA can contribute to overcoming current challenges. We, the members of the Parliamentary Assembly cooperate and try to find common ground, despite existing conflicts,” said Mottonen.

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.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.

Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/158919.html

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