Foreign ministers to take up Karabakh issue at OSCE meeting in Helsinki

by Tatul Hakobyan

Published: Wednesday December 03, 2008

Göran Lennmarker, PACE rapporteur on Nagorno-Karabakh, with Armenia's Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian in Helsinki, Dec. 3, 2008. Tigran Balayan

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Helsinki, Finland - (December 3, second update) - Top diplomats from the United States, Russia, and France will meet tomorrow in Helsinki with their counterparts from Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Armenian Reporter's Tatul Hakobyan reports from Helsinki, where the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe is holding a meeting of its Ministerial Council.

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, representing the three nations that co-chair the OSCE Minsk Group mediating the final resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, will meet on Thursday, December 4, with Foreign Ministers Edward Nalbandian of Armenia and Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan.

A similar meeting took place at the OSCE Ministerial meeting in Madrid, where the top diplomats of the co-chair countries put forth proposals now known as the Madrid Principles to the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nalbandian and Mr. Mammadyarov held talks today, but made no comments after their meeting.

Parties to a conflict

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finland's Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, said today that the Ministerial Council would focus on two big themes: the Caucasus - Georgia in particular - and European security. He added that he expected a declaration on Nagorno-Karabakh.

Mr. Stubb, in a recent statement, spoke of an "urgent need . . . to tackle tensions . . . between Armenia and Azerbaijan." The statement was notable for its failure to mention Nagorno-Karabakh as a party to the tension over its future. At the OSCE's Budapest summit in 1994, the organization recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as a full party to the conflict.

Asked by the Armenian Reporter today about the role of Karabakh in the peace process, Mr. Stubb said, "Negotiations should be conducted by France, the USA, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia. That is the framework in which we discuss, and I am happy that the process goes on and I think this is the best format, and I support Minsk Group process fully."

Threats not helpful

Earlier on December 3, Mr. Nalbandian met with Göran Lennmarker, who reports on Nagorno-Karabakh to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. They discussed the latest developments in the negotiations.

Mr. Nalbandian said he attached great importance to the declaration signed on November 2 near Moscow by Presidents Serge Sargsian, Ilham Aliyev, and Dmitri Medvedev. Presumably alluding to Mr. Aliyev's statement to Italian television last week that the declaration does not preclude the use of military force by Azerbaijan, Mr. Nalbandian said the document is being misinterpreted in Azerbaijan. Misinterpreting and attempting to ignore the principles agreed to will harm the effectiveness and progress of the negotiating process, Mr. Nalbandian added.

Mr. Nalbandian also met on December 3 with OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut. They discussed reforms within the OSCE. The Armenian foreign minister said Yerevan attached importance to the role of the OSCE in maintaining security and cooperation in Europe. "The European security system needs to be perfected, and the member-states must work together to make it more active and effective," he said.

The two also discussed the work of the OSCE office in Yerevan.