OSCE special envoy for protracted conflicts to visit Azerbaijan

Newly appointed Special Representative of the OSCE Lithuanian chairmanship on protracted conflicts Gedryus Chekuolis will pay his first visit to the South Caucasus region in the last week of February, the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the OSCE told Trend.

During the visit, Chekuolis will visit Baku and Yerevan. Details of the visit so far worked out.

Lithuania adopted the annual presidency of the OSCE from Kazakhstan on Jan.1. The Lithuanian authorities announced the resolution of protracted conflicts in the OSCE as one of the priorities of its presidency. South Caucasus countries - Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia - are members of the Organization since 1992.

Previously, he worked in the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry and held the position of coordinator of the Lithuanian government to join NATO. Chekuolis is also co-chair of the Geneva talks on restoring stability in the Georgian conflict. In 1982 he graduated from the Moscow State Institute.

In the South Caucasus, the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh and Georgian-Ossetian conflicts remain unresolved.

Military actions were launched in the unrecognized republic of South Ossetia in August 2008 with Georgian troops entering Tskhinvali and Russian troops later occupying the city, driving the Georgian military back into Georgia.

Georgia's autonomous regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia unilaterally declared independence from Georgia after the August 2008 war. The separatist regions had been supported by Russia, with the country later establishing diplomatic relations with the de facto states despite protests from the West. Venezuela, Nicaragua and Nauru also recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The dialogue to restore stability in the region of the Georgian conflict is conducted within the Geneva talks, which have been held since October 2008 on the basis of agreements reached after the events in South Ossetia in August 2008.

The Geneva talks are attended by delegations from Georgia, Russia, the United States, South Ossetia, and Abkhazia, as well as representatives from the EU, U.N. and OSCE. The only result of these meetings so far has been a document containing proposals for mechanisms to prevent and resolve incidents in the zone of the Georgian conflict.


/Trend/