Statement by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs

MOSCOW/WASHINGTON/PARIS, 6 March 2009 - The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group -- Ambassador Yury Merzlyakov of Russia, Ambassador Bernard Fassier of France, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza of the United States -- have today issued the following statement:

The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group traveled to Baku, Nagorno-Karabakh, Yerevan, and back to Baku between February 27 - March 3, 2009. In Baku and Yerevan they met with the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as their Foreign Ministers, and in Nagorno-Karabakh the Co-Chairs met with the de facto authorities and representatives of civil society. The Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan expressed their desire to continue meeting regularly. The Co-Chairs will therefore seek to organize a summit of the two Presidents in the coming months to discuss the key unresolved issues within the Basic Principles for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Co-Chairs welcome the frank and open discussions of these issues with the two Presidents since their last meeting in Zurich, and hope to continue to make progress in the talks by clarifying and narrowing the differences between the sides so that a peaceful settlement can be reached in the soonest possible timeframe.

While welcoming the continuation of a dialogue between the sides, the Co-Chairs condemn the ceasefire violation along the Line of Contact on February 26, 2009, which occurred during a monitoring mission conducted by the Personal Representative of the Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk. The Co-Chairs seek an explanation from the parties for how this shooting incident could have occurred after written security guarantees were provided by local commanders to Ambassador Kasprzyk. The Co-Chairs deplore that in 2008 over 30 people were killed and more than 50 injured, and another six killed since the beginning of this year, as a result of ceasefire violations. The Co-Chairs urge the parties to review again their proposal to consolidate the ceasefire, which was made at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki in December 2008.