Co-chairmen of OSCE Minsk Group have common approach to Karabakh solution

The co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group have a common approach on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the French co-chairman Bernard Fassier said on Friday, RIA Novosti reports.

"The country-mediators of the Karabakh settlement may have disagreements or different positions on other issues, but on the Karabakh issue, we are working in an atmosphere of harmony and cooperation," Fassier said at a seminar of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Roth Rose in Yerevan.

Speaking of Russian parallel diplomacy, aimed at resolving the Karabakh conflict, Fassier said that Moscow is making its contribution to the settlement of the conflict within the proposals that have been developed by three co-chairmen of OSCE Minsk Group. "All Russian initiatives for settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are fully consistent with all the mediators of OSCE Minsk Group. Mediators exchange information, including the most confidential and secret information," said the French mediator.

Russia has recently made a number of initiatives within the negotiation process on the Karabakh settlement. In particular, on January 25 this year in Sochi, due to the initiative of President Dmitry Medvedev, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serge Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev,   held a meeting, during which the preamble of the updated Madrid principles was agreed.

According to the French co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, the differences between the intermediary countries do not hinder the work of the co-chairmen. Fassier reminded that during the last OSCE summit there emerged arguments between France and Russia, in particular on the development of the OSCE and its funding, but it had no impact on the activities of the intermediaries. Also during the visit of President Dmitry Medvedev to France in early March, which included negotiations with the French leader Nicolas Sarkozy, a joint statement was made that both countries will be closely engaged in reduction of regional tensions and trying to reconcile the positions of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

In the Italian city of Aquila during the Group of Eight summit, July 10, 2009, a joint statement of the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries was adopted. In their view, the agreement between the Azerbaijani and Armenian leadership should be achieved on the basis of the principles of the Madrid Agreement of 2007.

At the same time were announced the basic principles of Karabakh settlement, including, inter alia, the definition of the status of Karabakh, by free will, the provision of a land link between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, the provision of security guarantees, and troop withdrawal from the territories controlled.

Baku has officially announced that it accepts the Madrid principles and wants a peaceful settlement to the conflict, expecting the same response from Yerevan. However, there is still no drastic change in the process and, moreover, it seems to many experts there are attempts to freeze the existing status quo.