UNDER SECRETARY NICHOLAS BURNS
PRESS CONFERENCE
OSCE MINISTERIAL MEETING
MADRID, NOVEMBER 28, 2007
Under Secretary Burns: Thank you very much. Thank you. Good evening. I’m
sorry that I kept you waiting, but we had a busy schedule since we arrived here
in Madrid. It’s a pleasure to be in Madrid. I want to thank, on behalf of the
American delegation, the Spanish government for its wonderful hospitality, I’m
looking forward to seeing Minister Moratinos this evening. We’ve just spent the
last two days with him in Washington DC and Annapolis, Maryland… and we are very
very pleased that Minister Moratinos was part of this major effort to support
the advent of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. And
secondly I want to say that we are looking forward to this ministerial very very
much.
For us the OSCE is a vitally important organization. It has played a historic
role in the history of Europe, particularly in the post Cold War history of
Europe, over the last fifteen years or so. It’s been the organization that has
defined the democratic space that Europe has become, surely the part of the
world that is most democratic and most peaceful. It has been the champion of the
democratic principles that are the bedrock of the transatlantic relationship; it
has helped to secure the democratic freedoms of the 300 million people in
Central Europe who won their freedom for themselves in dissolving the Warsaw
Pact and the Soviet Union between 1989 and 1991. And so for us the OSCE is a
very important institution, and it’s been the key institution for democracy
promotion, for human rights, for election monitoring, and also for the proper
separation of conventional forces in the CFE treaty that was begun 17 years ago,
and it’s been such an important part of the cause of stability and peace in
Europe. So we Americans come to Madrid to support the OSCE, and hopefully to
have some illumination [laughter], so you can see me and I can see you, and to
thank the Spanish government for having guided the OSCE through the last 12
months.
A few other points: having said those very nice things and very positive things
about the OSCE, we are worried about the future of the organization, because
there is an assault from some quarters on the integrity of the OSCE, and on its
major missions, particularly on the ODIHR function, the election observation
function. This is one of the great success stories of the OSCE. ODIHR has
monitored well over 100 elections in the United States and in every other
country of Europe over the last 15 years or so. ODIHR was present in 2004 in the
United States when we had our national election. We will welcome them back again
a year from now in November of 2008. There is now an attempt made to change the
mandate of the ODIHR, to weaken it, to make it subject to the decision making of
the OSCE council itself, rather than maintain its independence and integrity
which has widely established it in the first place. The United States will
oppose vigorously every effort to weaken ODIHR. We will not be party to any
compromise designed to paper over differences, and we will maintain unstinting
support for ODIHR at this ministerial, and of course in the future itself.
The CFE treaty is important. We think the CFE treaty has been a landmark treaty
for Europe. It was one of the ways that we could peacefully end the Cold War by
determining how the military forces that survived the Cold War and survived the
dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in particular, as well as those of NATO, could be
properly positioned to ensure peace and confidence in Europe, so we stand by the
CFE treaty, we will believe the adapted CFE treaty should be brought fully into
force, we also believe with commitments made at Istanbul at another meeting of
the OSCE should be fully respected, and we said that time and again, now the
United States has put new ideas on the table, we did so six weeks ago, and it’s
been very unfortunate to see Russia threaten to walk out unilaterally from the
CFE treaty, we think Russia should come back to the fold, and come to Madrid in
a spirit of compromise to look at the American and allied proposals on an
objective basis and to see if can work out a way forward for the CFE itself.
On Kosovo there is no question that with the news today from Austria with the
failure of the troika talks, the third round of the troika talks, to convince
the Serb government and the Kosovar Albanian authorities to come to their own
arrangement on the future of Kosovo, there is no question that we are now going
to enter a transitional phase in Kosovo, there is also no question that the OSCE
has a major role to play in Kosovo, and so one of the other issues that we have
to grapple with at this ministerial is the future of the OSCE mission in Kosovo,
which the US will support unreservedly , because we see how important it is now,
and under any transitional scenario it will be important a year from now, and so
we will firmly support that.
On Afghanistan, with that the OSCE has worked hard to define a border security
mission for the OSCE, a base in neighboring countries, that will help
Afghanistan deal with some of the transnational problems that currently aflict
it, and so I hope we will be able to tell you, that chairman Moratinos will be
able to say at the end of the ministerial, that we have agreed on a mission for
the OSCE in Afghanistan itself.
And finally I’d say that as we Americans and you Europeans continue to build the
democratic peace in Europe and I think that has been (excuse me) the overarching
objective of every American Administration (thank you) and every European
government since the great change of 1989-91 and democratic peace in Europe, we
need to preserve the institutions that will sustain that democratic peace, the
European Union is such an institution, NATO is such an institution but so is the
OSCE, and the organization of the OSCE is at a crossroads, because there is so…
there are a few countries now saying that we should redefine the mission or
rethink the mission or rethink the mandate or engage in a new charter, when the
organization was created and sustained by people like François Mitterand, and
Helmut Kohl, and Margaret Thatcher, and George H. W. Bush, sixteen and seventeen
years ago to be this key transitional institution for Europeans and Americans
and Canadians, we defend that purpose, and we will defend at this ministerial
the organization against those who would change that purpose and really make
this organization, try to make this organization, less relevant and less
effective than it has been and should continue to be.
So with those… that by way of a summary opening statement, I’ll be very happy to
answer any questions you have, if you will be nice and just tell me your
affiliation… I’d be pleased to answer any questions.
NPR: I would just like to ask what meetings you will have with the
Russian delegation here and also what do you think of the allegation coming from
Moscow that Washington is trying to influence the elections in Russia this
Sunday.
US Burns: Well, first of all, this allegation made by President Putin the
other day, Monday, is completely unfounded, it’s untrue, it’s preposterous to
assert that somehow the United States government and the State Department
specifically counseled ODIHR not to monitor those lections, it was clear to
everybody in Vienna at the OSCE, that Russia had broken precedence, that Russia
had inflicted upon the OSCE and impressed upon the OSCE conditions for the
monitors that were unworkable, that it was the first country in memory over the
last 15 years to demand the types of conditions that would make it impossible
for ODIHR to act. Everyone saw that in Vienna at least those who could claim to
be objective, the US government did not give a recommendation to ODIHR, ODIHR
made its own decision, it’s an independent organization, and so these charges
are absolutely untrue, it is interesting to note that in the statement made
President Putin said he has information, well he should divulge that
information, because it’s untrue.
Secondly, ODIHR’s independence needs to be respected, we are going to welcome
ODIHR into our country next year as we have in the past, every other European
country has done that, ODIHR is the most expert, most professional international
election observation organization in the world, it has great credibility,
because it’s independent, because no government, my government or any other
government can tell it what to say or what its findings should be, none of us
can go to Vienna and insist that the conditions be x, y and z, we all have to
accept the conditions of ODIHR maintains are important, and so it’s really the
obligation now of the Russian government to answer the question, why did it walk
away? Why did it not give those visas in time? And we wish that the Russian
government had made it easier for ODIHR to act, we respect the decision that
ODIHR has made, and the question really is now about Russian democracy and the
ability of the international community to be able to have a fair and objective
look at the Russians and that’s, I think, that’s what was at stake, when ODIHR
made its decision.
NPR: Any plans for any meetings with the Russians?
US Burns: I’m sure we will talk to the Russians, we talk to the Russians
all the time, and I’m sure we will have extensive conversations with the Russian
delegation once they arrive.
Kari Huhta from Helsingin Sanomat: Mr. Secretary, will the US at this
ministerial meeting support Kazakhstan as the chairman in office of the OSCE
sometime between 2009 and 2011?
US Burns: Well we are going to face the question at this ministerial of
who will be chairman in office in 2009, 2010 and 2011, so actually looking for
three countries to encumber that position, I’ll be seeing the Kazakh Foreign
Minister, Mr. Tazhin, later on this evening to continue our conversations about
that, we have not yet made a decision as to whether or not we will be able to
join a consensus to support Kazakhstan, we have great respect for the Kazakh
government, it’s a friendly government to the United States, we have had long
discussions about this, but we are not at the end of those discussions, so we
just have to see how it goes and I hope for constructive discussions, and
hopefully a positive outcome if that’s possible.
ABC: Mr. Burns, Borja Bergareche, from ABC, here in Madrid. I was
wondering, you’re just back from Annapolis, could you give us some detail as to
what are the mechanisms the U.S. will implement to try to attain the 2008 goal
of a two-state solution, and what are the benchmarks for us to assess the
success or failure of that goal.
US Burns: Thank you very much. Thank you. I know that President Bush and
Secretary of State Rice are very pleased by the discussions at Annapolis. The
discussions began in Washington on Monday. They continued in Annapolis
yesterday, and now they are continuing, as you know, in Washington today, in
meetings that our government is having with the Israeli and Palestinian
leadership.
As you know, our President and Secretary of State have invested a lot of their
time and energy into this process. We think it’s vital, vitally important, that
the United States and the international community support Prime Minister Olmert
and Mahmud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority in this search for a two-state
solution, for the ability of Israel to live securely and at peace with all of
its Arab neighbors, and for the ability of the Palestinian people to form their
own state and to have their own homeland.
It was remarkable to see that so many nations --from Europe, from the Middle
East, from South Asia and East Asia, from Africa and from Latin America, from
all corners of the world-- were represented at Annapolis. And to see the fact
that so many Arab countries came and made the commitment to support this
process. We are pleased by the progress that has been made, but we know that
what is ahead of us is a continuous and intensive negotiation that will be very
tough and challenging. But, as our President and Secretary of State both
indicated, we are dedicated, we the United States, to this process. We intend to
give it all the energy we have, and we’re pleased to see so much international
support from all the parts of the world that I mentioned. Thank you.
Europa Press: I would like to know if you expect a final declaration of
this meeting, if it will be possible now that we see that there are different
positions between the United States and Russia on some aspects. Is it possible a
final declaration, as the Spanish government would like?
US Burns: Well, I believe … I’ve been to the last … This is my third OSCE
Ministerial. I was in Ljubljana two years ago, Brussels last year… We haven’t
had an OSCE Declaration.. I think, this is the fifth year without a declaration.
Now, I hope we’ll be able to have one. And, we respect the work that Minister
Moratinos has done and he and his Spanish colleagues –I’ll be seeing him tonight
and will want to hear from him as to where he thinks the undecided elements are
in this declaration. We will do everything we can to try to be open and flexible
to support a final declaration. But it’s very important that those of us who
believe in the OSCE not be asked by those who are questioning its relevance, and
that’s not the Spanish government by the way. Spain is part of the group that we
know believes in the OSCE. It’s very important that we not compromise on
principle.
The real beauty of the OSCE, it’s interior integrity, has been that it has been
an unstinting champion of human rights, of democratic freedoms and of free
elections, as well as the conventional forces in Europe process. And, we’re not
going to compromise on principle, but we’ll be very flexible in trying to reach
out to other countries to meet them halfway if we feel that that is being
returned to us. So, whether or not there is a ministerial, I just don’t know. We
hope there will be one, but what is most important is that we protect the OSCE
from the assault of some countries to undo the organization, and specifically to
attack the objective way in which the OSCE observes elections in all of our
countries.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: You a few times referred to an assault on
ODIHR. Kazakhstan is part of this assault, so is it a condition for Kazakhstan’s
chairmanship that it withdraws its support for this draft?
US Burns: Well, I know that Russia is the author of this proposal, I
believe, that would severely weaken and undermine ODIHR. I know that some of the
co-sponsors are Uzbekistan and Belarus, and I know Kazakhstan is. We think it’s
very unfortunate that those countries developed this proposal.
We are absolutely opposed to it. And I’m not going to give advice to any country
as to what they should do. These are sovereign decisions that countries should
make. But, we are absolutely opposed to that resolution. We will not compromise
on this. We will not give a millimeter of opening to any proposal that will
weaken ODIHR. It’s just not possible at this Ministerial or any time in the
future. So, we we’re going to defend ODIHR and countries will have to make their
own decisions, but those decisions certainly have consequences. You’re right to
imply that in your very good question.
Spanish TV: Do you think it is possible to arrive at an agreement with
Russia to get, or to resolve, Kosovo’s independence?
US Burns: Well, I don’t know if it’ll be possible. You know, the United
States came out at the end of March, 2007, in this year, 2007, to say that we
were very happy with the United Nations’ plan, of the UN mediator Martti
Ahtisaari, the former President of Finland, and that we believe that his plan
for a transitional arrangement that would lead to the supervised independence of
Kosovo was the right way to go. We said that back in March and April of this
year. Now, a lot of countries said to us, and said at the UN, “Let’s give
additional negotiations a chance.” So, we’re just about to complete 130 days of
additional negotiations on top of the year-long process that President Ahtisaari
had engineered with the parties. And the reports that I’ve received from Austria
today are that the negotiations of the Troika, --the EU the U.S. and Russia--
had been leading, those negotiations did not succeed today. So, I know that the
Troika will not make a report to the United Nations Secretary-General. There’s
probably not much the Security Council can do except to listen to that report.
And all of us will have to see where we are by December 10th, which is when the
130-day period ends. We hope that there can be an agreement between Belgrade and
Pristina, between the Serb government and the Kosovar Albanian majority in
Kosovo itself. We will be willing to work with them at any time up until
December 10th. When December 10th comes along, those negotiations will have
ended. There will then be time for all countries to determine what they should
do, and what we should all do to produce a peaceful and constructive
transitional period in Kosovo itself. Should it come to that on December 10th,
that there will have been no agreement, we’ll just have to see where we are
then.
So, the U.S. position has always been very clear. You know, we’ve work with the
Russians in the Troika process. The Russians have been a good partner in the
Troika process, but we have absolutely, very different views than the Russian
Federation concerning Kosovo. You know, we’ve been there. For eight and a half
years, American soldiers have been there in KFOR, in the NATO mission. We’ve
been there with American financing. Our major partners have been the European
Union and NATO. It’s really been the European countries, the West European and
Central European countries of the EU and NATO, it’s been Canada and the United
States, that have been the backbone of the international commitment. So, we know
a lot about Kosovo. We are committed because we have young men and women serving
in our military forces there. And, we know that if these negotiations do not
succeed by December 10th, then we’ll have to enter, the international community,
will have to make some decisions. There’ll be obviously a transitional phase and
all of us will have to do what we have to do. And I can’t, I don’t want to
foresee what we will do until we know where we are on December 10th.
So, there are some significant differences between Russia and the United States,
but we hope that Russia will act constructively to recognize realities on the
ground in Kosovo and to continue to urge the Serb government to compromise. We
have not seen much of that in the Serb government over the past year-and-a-half.
Armenian News Agency: My question is the following: Whether you think the
possible Kosovo solution can be applied and be a precedent for other conflicts,
in particular, Nagorno-Karabakh, and if not, why not?
US Burns: We’ve never looked upon Kosovo and any possible international
arrangement that would lead Kosovo towards a new phase … we’ve never looked upon
Kosovo as a precedent. We believe it’s a unique situation. You mentioned
Nagorno-Karabakh. We have been co-chairs with France and Russia for a good 15
years now in the Minsk Group process. That is a very particular, as you know,
conflict, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and I don’t believe that there are any
connections between what happens in Nagorno-Karabakh and what may or may not
happen in Kosovo. As I said, we’re going to have to wait until December 10th to
determine, as an international community, what should happen in Kosovo. We hope
that there could be process between now and December 10th in the Troika
negotiations on Kosovo, but if that progress is not forthcoming, we’ll just have
to see where we are.
Nagorno-Karabakh is different. We’re having a meeting, in fact, here, in Madrid,
that will be chaired by France, Russia and the United States, to urge the
parties to fulfill the hope that we’ve had for the better part of a decade now,
that the Minsk Group process would lead to a settlement, that Armenia and
Azerbaijan could both support. And I’ll be meeting with the Foreign Ministers of
Armenia and Azerbaijan, separately as well as together, to see what we can do to
further the Minsk process. But we’ve never believed that Kosovo and any possible
or arrangements on Kosovo to be made after December 10th should be seen as a
precedent for the frozen conflicts further to the east. It’s a unique situation.
Milosevic tried to annihilate over one million Kosovar Albanian Muslims. He was
denied that by NATO. We fought a war over it. And the United Nations and NATO
and the EU have kept the peace there for eight-and-a-half years. And now, fully
94 or 95 per cent of the people that live there are Kosovar Albanian Muslims.
It’s a very different situation that the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Thank
you very much.
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