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The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be discussed at the annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to be held in Tbilisi, Georgia from July 1 to 5.
The draft resolution by Ms. Margareta Cederfelt, Swedish MP of the General Committee on political affairs and security, will be put up for discussion at the session titled “25 Years of Parliamentary Co-operation: Building Trust Through Dialogue”.
The draft resolution affirms the right of Azerbaijani, Armenian, Georgian, Moldovan and Ukrainian citizens displaced their native lands as a result of conflicts to return home.
The document also expresses concern over the recent escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
The draft resolution welcomes the active involvement of the OSCE Chairmanship in the resolution of protracted conflicts within the framework of the existing negotiating format and mechanism.
Furthermore, the document calls on parliamentarians to encourage the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to make every effort to reduce the risks of renewed clashes and demonstrate political will to start work on the Great Peace Agreement in the framework of the Minsk Group.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.
A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.
The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.
Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.
Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.
Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Apa.az
