Azerbaijan

The Community and its member States welcome the acceptance by all the parties to the Nagorno- Karabakh dispute of the CSCE plan put to them by Signor Raffaelli. They believe that this plan represents the best hope for a comprehensive ceasefire in the region, for the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 822 of 30 April and for real progress towards a negotiated settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. They pay tribute in particular to President Ter Petrossian of Armenia for his successful personal intervention to secure the agreement of representatives of the Armenian community in Nagorno-Karabakh to this plan. The Community and its member States hope that the Armenian government will continue to urge full acceptance of the peace plan on those elements in Nagorno-Karabakh who have not yet accepted it and that those elements in Nagorno-Karabakh will refrain from exploiting the present internal difficulties in Azerbaijan on the ground in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. They warn that in the present circumstances any offensive operation by whatever side may jeopardize the peace plan.

The Community and its member States urge the parties to the conflict to continue to lend their full support to the plan, thus facilitating the deployment of the first phase of the CSCE monitoring mission. They also urge the parties to agree to accept the withdrawal of troops from occupied territorias and guarantee the security of CSCE observers on the ground as soon as they are deployed.