Helsinki Commission Announces Briefing on Nagorno-Karabakh

WASHINGTON—The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, today announced the following briefing:

"AVERTING ALL-OUT WAR IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH: THE ROLE OF THE U.S. AND OSCE"

Wednesday, October 18, 2017 2:00PM Russell Senate Office Building Room 188

Live Webcast: www.facebook.com/HelsinkiCommission

Last year, the conflict surrounding the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in the South Caucasus saw its worst outbreak of violence in more than two decades. The so-called Four Day War in April 2016 claimed approximately 200 lives and demonstrated that the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, which has persisted in a state of no-war/no-peace since a 1994 ceasefire, is not a "frozen" conflict at all. Instead, the Line of Contact separating the parties sees numerous ceasefire violations annually. Each one risks igniting a larger-scale conflict that could draw in major regional players, such as Russia, Turkey, and Iran. Since 1997, the United States, France, and Russia have co-chaired the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the principal international mechanism aimed at reaching a negotiated solution to the conflict. The fragility of the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire underscores the importance of United States engagement in the Minsk Group process. The U.S. Helsinki Commission will host two former United States Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group process as well as a renowned independent expert on the conflict to assess the current state of the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, the Minsk Group format, and the prospects for achieving a lasting peace.

• Ambassador Carey Cavanaugh, Professor of Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution, University of Kentucky; Former U.S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group (1999-2001)
• Magdalena Grono, Europe & Central Asia Program Director, International Crisis Group
• Ambassador James Warlick, Partner and Senior Policy Advisor, Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners; Former U.S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group (2013-2016)