Azerbaijan and Armenia have not yet submitted their proposals on uncoordinated points of <b>Madrid principles</b> to the co-chairs, <b>OSCE Minsk Group</b>’s Russian Co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov stated.
Answering the question on co-chairs’ visit to the region, the diplomat stated that they were waiting for the proposals of both sides: “First, we should receive the proposals of both parties, and then we will think about the visit,” <b>Yuri Merzlyakov</b> told APA.
The <b>OSCE Minsk Group</b> was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, now Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)) to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
The Minsk Group is headed by a Co-Chairmanship consisting of France, Russia and the United States. Furthermore, the Minsk Group also includes the following participating States: Belarus, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Turkey as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan. Current Co-chairmen of the Minsk Group are: Ambassador Bernard Fassier of France, Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov of the Russian Federation and Ambassador Robert Bradtke of the United States.
The main objectives of the Minsk Process are as follows: Providing an appropriate framework for conflict resolution in the way of assuring the negotiation process supported by the Minsk Group; Obtaining conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the cessation of the armed conflict in order to permit the convening of the Minsk Conference; Promoting the peace process by deploying OSCE multinational peacekeeping forces.
The Minsk Process can be considered to be successfully concluded if the objectives referred to above are fully met.
The <b>Madrid principles</b> contain the proposals put forward by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the basic principles of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. The document was submitted to the Armenian and Azerbaijani representatives at the OSCE summit in the Spanish capital in November 2007.
The <b>conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan</b> broke out in 1988 as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched in the final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from 1991 to 1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, sealed by Armenia, NKR and Azerbaijan, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.
