Statement delivered by Ambassador Armen Papikyan at the 1285th OSCE PC meeting in response to the statement delivered by the Delegation of France on behalf of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Countries

16 October, 2020

We thank the distinguished delegation of France for presenting the statement issued on October 13, 2020 by the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. We also thank the distinguished delegations of the United States, the European Union, Canada, the Russian Federation, Switzerland and the United Kingdom for their calls for cessation of hostilities and adherence to the humanitarian truce agreed on October 10.

In this context we would like to specifically thank Russia and President Vladimir Putin for his initiative, as well as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for his active and tireless engagement which resulted in agreement of a joint statement calling for cessation of hostilities and establishment of a humanitarian ceasefire.

In the same vein we express our appreciation to the Governments of France and the US for their continued efforts and for calling the things by their proper names.

We once again stress our adherence to the humanitarian truce and reiterate that the conflict should be resolved exclusively through peaceful negotiations and there cannot be a military solution.

Unfortunately, despite the agreements as well as calls of the international community, Turkey, which portrays itself as a reliable member of the OSCE Minsk Group while aspiring to have a more immediate role in the negotiation process, continues to play a destructive role instigating further escalation. Taking into account Turkey’s direct involvement and its export of foreign terrorist fighters and jihadist groups from Syria and Libya to the South Caucasus, which is power projection tool of the current Turkish government into the neighbouring regions by the way of creating new hot spots. As we have stated before, Armenia cannot consider this country as a member of the Minsk Group anymore. In fact, membership of Turkey in the Minsk Group undermines the credibility of the Group.

Bearing in mind these facts, Turkey cannot and should not play any role in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We call on all OSCE participating States to continue exerting pressure on Turkey to withdraw its military personnel from the South Caucasus, together with its affiliated terrorist groups.

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