Andrey Sorokin considers resumption of military operations in Karabakh conflict zone to be unlikely

The resumption of the military operations in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is unlikely. Such opinion expressed Andrey Sorokin, head of the OSCE office in Yerevan, while responding to an ArmInfo's correspondent question related to the situation in the conflict zone and possibility of the military operations renewal. 
"I do not think that military operations will renew. But this is not an opinion made by the head of the OSCE Yerevan office but my personal thought, as I closely follow the developments in the world including the regional issues", Sorokin noted.  
He added that if the conflict is considered in a whole, this is a in fact one of the rare cases worldwide, when Americans, Russians and French are "on the same journey" that means all the world community adopts the same policy related to the issue of conflict's settlement and joins its efforts for ensuring a peaceful process. 
It is difficult to say whether the conflict will be settled in the near future, but we have high expectations on Germany's OSCE Chairmanship in 2016. I closely followed the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's visit to Berlin and the statements made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Germany will take decisive and active steps for the settlement of the conflicts during its OSCE Chairmanship including the Nagorno- Karabakh conflict", Sorokin  said. 
As one of the guarantees for achieving progress in peaceful settlement Sorokin mentioned the withdrawal of the sharpshooters from the frontline. "This would be a significant step on the way of the conflict settlement which would help to save lives of a lot of young men". the diplomat noted. 
The Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan also mentioned that he finds it hard to tell whether Baku will agree with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs' proposal to create mechanisms for the incidents investigation. "The discussion of these proposals commenced two years ago. But Azerbaijan rejects them.  At the same time Armenia insists on this proposal, as it is a natural way for the conflict settlement" Sorokin emphasized. 
He also noted that the situation around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be discussed in high-level during  the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly. I know that the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan have met and discussed this issue. Marcel Pesko, director of the conflict prevention and resolution center of OSCE, who has recently visited Yerevan, has also touched upon this issue. The issue demands resolution and the steps are taken to do that.", Sorokin said. He also emphasized the Armenian Diaspora's significant role related to the various countries' decision making process. 
To note, the tension in the Karabakh conflict zone has sharply run high. On September 24, the adversary shelled the settlements in Tavush province, killing civilians. On September 25, the Azeri armed forces fired at the NKR armed forces' rear positions, killing 4 servicemen of the NKR Defense Army and wounding 16 people. The Armenian Defense Ministry has already made a statement, stressing that Armenian armed forces will from now on use adequate artillery and rocket measures to suppress the adversary's actions and contribute to the negotiation process.  The Co-Chairs urge accepting an OSCE mechanism to investigate the ceasefire violations. The Co-Chairs condemned in strong terms the use of artillery that caused additional casualties in the last twenty-four hours. "We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the deceased. An escalation of violence is not in the interest of Azerbaijanis or Armenians, or a negotiated settlement", they say. The Co-Chairs encouraged the sides to implement people-to-people programs to build trust between societies affected by the conflict.