The exclusive interview of Giedrius Čekuolis, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office for Protracted Conflicts, to Mediamax
– You are scheduled to visit South Caucasus next week. Some experts believe that presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have led the Karabakh process to deadlock and it will be hard to break it. Do you agree that the current situation is not that optimistic?
– At the OSCE Summit in Astana in December 2010, the Heads of Delegation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair countries – Russia, France and the United States – agreed with the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the President of Armenia Serge Sargsyan that the time has come for “more decisive efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict”.
I believe we must work together and build on this common understanding. We realize that many challenges remain but we fully support the work of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to prevent any escalation of tensions and keep this dialogue going.
– “By the time we meet in Vilnius for the OSCE Ministerial on 6-7 December, I believe we shall register tangible progress in addressing protracted conflicts,” the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Audronius Ažubalis said at the special session of the OSCE Permanent Council. What steps in particular is Lithuania going to undertake to help to resolve the Karabakh conflict?
– The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office has emphasized that one of our main priorities this year is to facilitate tangible progress in the region’s protracted conflicts. I am visiting the region this month, and the OSCE Chairperson will be in Baku and Yerevan in early March.
The Chairmanship will try to facilitate discussions with Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as other OSCE participating States to consider options for confidence-building measures and strengthening OSCE monitoring activities on the ground.
In this we regard we welcome the recent agreement between the Presidents to strengthen the ceasefire regime and confidence-building measures in the military sphere. The Lithuanian Chairmanship stands ready together with Minsk Group Co-chairs to do what it can to facilitate the implementation of this agreement.
– Taking into consideration the fact that Russia has recently undertaken the main initiative on Karabakh conflict, will Lithuania, as OSCE Chairman, develop cooperation with the Russian Federation in this direction?
– The Lithuanian Chairmanship fully supports the efforts of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs, which of course includes the Russian Federation. Our co-operation in these matters is strong and I am confident that we will continue working together with the aim of making progress towards a negotiated settlement.
– How do you treat Baku’s permanent attempts to translate the Karabakh peace talks, held within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group, into other international formats or instances? How adequate are these actions?
– The Lithuanian Chairmanship fully supports the work of the Minsk Group and its Co-Chairs, who have the explicit mandate to mediate the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
– How do you assess OSCE Field Mission’s role in Karabakh conflict zone?
– Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office on the Conflict Dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference, represents the Chairperson. He supports the peace process through maintaining contact with the parties, promoting confidence- and security-building measures and monitoring the cease-fire. The Personal Representative and his office play a very important role in facilitating dialogue, and the Ambassador supports and takes part in the Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ visits and their meetings with the leaderships.
– The necessity of taking measures to increase confidence between the sides is often being voiced. The withdrawal of snipers from the contact line in accord with OSCE recommendations would be a good example of this. As Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office for Protracted Conflicts, do you plan to undertake any steps on this issue or strive for Azerbaijan’s consent to withdraw the snipers?
– In my meetings in both Baku and Yerevan, I will emphasize the importance of confidence-building measures, including removing snipers from the line of contact, as it was stated in the Chairperson-in-Office’s statement to the UN Security Council this week. Confidence can only be increased when bloodshed will be stopped.
– According to the statement of the speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament Irene Degutiene, the Lithuanian Seim is working out a resolution “On peaceful resolution of the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh”. Would you please open the brackets and tell us what kind of resolution is it, and how can it facilitate the settlement process, held within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group?
– The resolution has not been adopted yet, so I cannot comment on it.
Conflicts in the South Caucasus hamper the region’s development. We remain committed to actively engage with the countries concerned aiming at a peaceful and lasting settlement of conflicts. We encourage Armenia and Azerbaijan to take the necessary steps to achieve a breakthrough in negotiations based on the principles of the United Nations Charter and Helsinki Final Act, in particular the principles of Non-Use of Force or Threat of Force, Territorial Integrity, Equal Rights and Self-Determination of Peoples.
There is no alternative to a peaceful resolution of the conflict, therefore Lithuania as Chairmanship-in-Office intends to encourage those involved in the conflict to reinforce their pledges to refrain from use of force.
The Lithuanian Chairmanship supports the negotiating efforts of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs to bring closer the positions of the parties to the conflict in order to find a long-lasting and peaceful solution. Lithuania supports all the principles, without exception, outlined by the Presidents of the French Republic, the United States and Russia in their joint statements of L’Aquila in 2009 and Muskoka 2010, and welcomed by the Azerbaijani and Armenian authorities.
We will work closely with the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk. We will look for ways, in close consultations with the parties to the conflict, to increase the monitoring capabilities of Ambassador Kasprzyk’s office along the Line of Contact between the conflict parties.
We strongly believe that the implementation of confidence-building measures (CBM) contributes to the maintaining of dialogue with the Parties and prevents escalation. The involvement could grow by applying a more ambitious CBMs package aiming at building trust and mutual understanding between the Sides to the conflict and creating a positive framework for a peaceful settlement.