The tension in the South Caucasus, especially in the context of its higher geo-strategic importance, requires stability and security for all the nations in the region, the former Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Vladimir Kazimirov said, commenting on the RA Foreign Minister’s statement at the OSCE Summit in Greece. Minister Edward Nalbandyan called for elaborating a more efficient Euro-Atlantic security system.

Kazimirov said that the issue of ensuring security is the most urgent one for the South Caucasus states whose relations have for a long time been burdened with conflicts.

“Armenians and Azerbaijanis must look for ways to historic reconciliation, not to new conflicts. However, the security of one should not be at the cost of another. This is one of the major difficulties of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process,” Kazimirov said.

The diplomat pointed out that the OSCE “just falls short of the target for ensuring security, being busy with other things. There are numerous examples, including the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, that the OSCE has been dealing with for 17 years. I would like to cite just one of them. With only one cease-fire consolidation agreement of February 4, 1995, at its disposal, the OSCE has not done anything for the parties to observe it: incidents on the contract line between the conflicting parties still take place. New OSCE Chairmen-in-Office are appointed every year, but none of them asked the conflicting parties why they do not fulfill the obligations under the agreement, signed under the OSCE auspices,” Kazimirov said.