YEREVAN (Armenpress) — The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group should be preserved, former President Robert Kocharyan said during a press conference on February 17.
The Pashinyan administration earlier had said it is considering the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group.
The OSCE MG was created in 1992 to spearhead the OSCE’s efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. PM Nikol Pashinyan earlier said he has a constructive approach regarding the idea of dissolving the format. “We understand the stance that if there is no conflict what’s the meaning of the existence of a format dealing with the conflict resolution. But we also want to be convinced that Azerbaijan is approaching this issue in this same logic and for instance, that its motive under developing the narrative of the so-called Western Azerbaijan isn’t about engaging in aggressive policy against the territory of the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinyan told Armenpress.
Asked at the press conference to comment, Kocharyan said, “The Minsk group ought to be preserved at all cost, because if the Minsk Group gets dissolved now it will be extremely difficult to have that kind of an international format again.”
A dissolution of the group can be considered only after creating a new, functioning negotiations format, Kocharyan said.
Kocharyan, the leader of the opposition Hayastan bloc, covered a wide range of other issues during the press conference.
