U.S. Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE)
Vienna
September 14, 2000
STATEMENT ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH
DELIVERED BY CHARGE D'AFFAIRES JOSIAH ROSENBLATT TO THE PERMANENT
COUNCIL, VIENNA
Thank you, Madame Chairperson. We have listened with interest to the
report by the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office,
Ambassador Kasprzyk.
The July visit of the Chairperson-in-Office that he described, as well
as the ongoing efforts by my Government and the other Minsk Group
Co-Chairs -- to include the visit of the three Minsk Group Co-Chairs
to Baku, Stepanakhert and Yerevan in early July -- should serve as
visible indications of the significance the OSCE attaches to the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem and our desire for a rapid and equitable
settlement.
The work Ambassador Kasprzyk and his team have undertaken,
particularly including monitoring the cease-fire and promoting other
CBM's [confidence-building measures] such as demining and border
crossing co-operation, has helped to create the essential
preconditions necessary for a lasting settlement.
We wish to commend, in particular, Ambassador Kasprzyk's work to
accomplish the return of POWs. We welcome the positive responses to
this effort on the part of the leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh, and the
Governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which has resulted in the
recent release of 13 POWs. We also welcome and encourage Ambassador
Kasprzyk's decision to give a new impetus to work on Missing Persons.
Unless the parties to the dialogue have a basic level of mutual trust
and understanding, it will be all but impossible to reach a peaceful
settlement to this conflict.
We are encouraged by the continuation of direct talks between
Presidents Kocharian and Aliyev aimed at achieving a stable and
lasting settlement, which is critical for development and prosperity
of the region.
The start of this direct presidential dialogue last year was a very
positive development, and indicates that the two sides are serious
about achieving a settlement. In this regard, we note that the two
presidents met in Yalta in August and again in New York in September.
We welcome their public statements to the press following the New York
meeting, where they said that they will continue their dialogue, and
that they remain committed to a peaceful solution to the conflict
based on mutual compromise.
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