Statement of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries Sixtieth Session of the UN General Assembly Agenda Item 40, "The situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan"

Speeches

Statement of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries Sixtieth Session of the UN General Assembly Agenda Item 40, "The situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan"
September 06, 2006

The Russian Federation, France, and the United States of America, as the Co-Chair countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk Group, remain committed to promoting a peaceful, negotiated resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In this capacity, we take with great seriousness concerns raised by either side to the conflict regarding threats to the security and stability of the region, as well as any developments that pose new obstacles to the negotiation process.

Accordingly, we have examined closely the information provided by the Government of Azerbaijan regarding fires in the eastern part of the occupied territories of Azerbaijan surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. We also note the report of the Personal Representative of the Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, who, at the request of the Government of Azerbaijan and direction of the Chairman-in-Office, has carried out a monitoring mission to the affected areas. We note, in particular, that fires of both natural and manmade origin are a regular occurrence in the region in question. The question of whether more extensive fires this year are a cause of ecological concern requiring international attention to their suppression is one that can only be answered through a technical examination of the situation.

Therefore, the Co-Chairs stand ready, together with the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, to lend their immediate assistance to the organization of an OSCE mission, with the support and expertise of the United Nations Environmental Programme, and to report to the UN General Assembly the results of the mission, as requested in the present resolution, as well as to the OSCE.

We commend the spirit of goodwill demonstrated by both Armenia and Azerbaijan in agreeing to cooperate to address the situation raised through this resolution. We hope the agreement reached today reflects a new readiness by both sides to engage in further measures to build confidence that will advance the process of negotiations, and we will redouble our efforts, through the OSCE's Minsk Group, to promote such activities.

Mr. President, we note that over the past two years, the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group have worked intensively with the Foreign Ministers and Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to identify core principles of an agreement that would lead to a just and lasting settlement. Our nations, reinforced by the voices of the Group of Eight leading nations at their summit in St. Petersburg in July, have called on the Presidents of both Armenia and Azerbaijan to accept now these core principles as a basis for resolution of the conflict, and to prepare their publics for peace, and not war. We reiterate that call today and restate the readiness of our governments to lend full support to the achievement and implementation of a peace agreement.

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