OSCE MG urges Karabakh conflict sides to reduce tensions

The OSCE Minsk Group (MG) encourages the sides of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to consider measures that would reduce tensions on the line of contact and the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, says a statement by the OSCE MG co-chairs, issued June 19, Trend reports.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (ambassadors Igor Popov of Russia, Stephane Visconti of France, and Richard Hoagland of the United States of America), together with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, traveled to the region in June, says the statement.

The main purpose of the co-chairs’ visit was to discuss the position of the sides towards the next steps in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process after the trilateral ministerial meeting in Moscow (April 28), as well as the overall situation in the conflict zone, according to the statement.

The co-chairs met with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in Yerevan on June 10 and with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on June 19, as well as held consultations with the two countries’ foreign and defense ministers, says the statement.