US Calls on Karabakh’s Conflicting Parties to Avoid Rhetoric

The United States continues to be involved in the OSCE Minsk Group as a Co-Chair country and urges the conflicting parties to refrain from statements that might increase tension in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution process. US State Department Acting Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner said as much during a US State Department daily press briefing yesterday.

A journalist asked Toner whether he had a response to the “seeming elevation of the rhetoric for some reason in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue,” adding that Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan was recently “threatening to resolve the issue once and for all through force.” 

I just wonder if you had any guidance on that or if you could get some.

“I’m not up to speed on those comments. I know that we remain engaged in the Minsk process and — but I don’t have the latest on that. I would just urge everyone to — obviously, to remain in dialogue and avoid any rhetoric that would add to tensions,” responded Toner.

Since the 90s, the OSCE Minsk Process and Minsk Group have been attempting to find a political solution to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a de-facto independent state that broke away from Azerbaijan after a bloody war in the 1990s and is populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, by providing a framework for conflict resolution, obtaining agreement by the conflicting parties to the cessation of armed conflict and promoting the peace process. The Minsk Group is comprised of Co-Chairs Robert Bradtke (USA), Bernard Fassier (France) and Igor Popov (Russian Federation).