Mr. Lennmarker, President Emeritus of the OSCE PA, will visit all three countries in the South Caucasus next week. He made the statement in an interview for the OSCE PA web site published today (www.oscepa.org). His trip to the region includes visits to Armenia 9-10 February, Georgia 10-12 February, and Azerbaijan 12-14 February, where he will hold talks with the leaders in the parliaments, governments, and with NGOs.
"I hope," Mr. Lennmarker said of his trip, "that it will result in positive signals that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is on its way to a peaceful resolution."
In Georgia, Goran Lennmarker said he hopes to learn more about how the Georgians view the pressing issues on refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) and about their perspective on finding a dialogue with Russia. He said it is important that the OSCE continue to play a role in South Ossetia because there is a great need for impartial mediators and observers such as from the OSCE.
"In South Ossetia, there is now a situation where you have had de facto ethnic cleansing," Mr. Lennmarker said in the interview.
"Refugees and IDPs, who live outside of South Ossetia, have their homes there and wish to go back. If they are to go back to a situation where their houses have been burned down, they need impartial observers -- people they feel can protect them, so they don't go back to the same situation they just fled from."
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