Astana to make every effort to withdraw snipers from front lines of Karabakh conflict zone

February 16, 2010 - 19:37 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net -
President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan met with OSCE Chairman and Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Kanat Saudabayev , currently on a regional visit in Yerevan. Serzh Sargsyan welcomed Kazakhstan's presidency in OSCE and expressed satisfaction with the current level of cooperation and political dialogue between Yerevan and Astana. Serzh Sargsyan expressed hope that during Kazakhstan's chairmanship bilateral cooperation in various fields to be expanded.

In turn, the OSCE Chairman expressed gratitude to Yerevan for supporting to Kazakhstan's chairmanship and presented the priorities of Astana's presidency, including OSCE heads of states summitt.

Resolution of the Karabakh problem should provide answers to real causes and consequences of the Karabakh problem, Armenian president said.

According to Kanat Saudabayev, it is difficult to resolve protracted conflicts in a short time, but Kazakhstan will try during its presidency to be useful to OSCE MG efforts. The removal of snipers from the front lines of the conflict zone can become an important step on the way to Karabakh problem resolution, and OSCE will make every effort in that direction, RA president's office reported.

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out as result of the ethnic cleansing launched by the Azeri authorities in the final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from 1991 (when the Nagorno Karabakh Republic was proclaimed) to 1994 (when a ceasefire was sealed by Armenia, NKR and Azerbaijan). Most of Nagorno Karabakh and a security zone consisting of 7 regions are now under control of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.

OSCE

The world\'s biggest regional organization dealing with security issues, OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) unites 56 countries situated in North America, Europe and Central Asia.\r\n\r\nIts member state are: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France Great Britain, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Macedonia, Malta¸ Moldova, Monaco Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Roumania, San-Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United States, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vatican.\r\n\r\nPartner countries include: Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Marocco, Mongolia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia.\r\n\r\nArmenia became an OSCE member state on January 30, 1992.