Open letter to Federal President Parmelin: Parliamentarians demand that the Federal Council finally implement the Nagorno-Karabakh mandate.
Media release, October 7, 2026
The deadline for implementing Motion 24.4259 for a peace forum on Nagorno-Karabakh expired six months ago. National Councillor Erich Vontobel (EDU, Zurich) and 17 other members of parliament have therefore addressed an open letter to Federal President Guy Parmelin.
Since March 2025, the Federal Council has been mandated to convene a peace forum within one year to facilitate dialogue between Azerbaijan and the representatives of the more than 100,000 displaced Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. It points out that Armenia and Azerbaijan have rejected this. Parliamentarians maintain that this misses the point of the mandate: Armenia's position is not a prerequisite for this dialogue. On September 21, the Federal Council also admitted that the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) has not yet contacted the representatives.
National Councillor Erich Vontobel, co-chair of the non-partisan committee "Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno-Karabakh," emphasizes: "The motion explicitly calls for a dialogue with the elected representatives of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians. If the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) has not even made contact with these directly affected parties, the parliamentary mandate cannot simply be dismissed as 'currently not possible'. We expect concrete diplomatic steps."
Several of these steps are within Switzerland's control: contacting elected representatives, ascertaining their willingness to engage in dialogue, and offering good offices. Switzerland's 2026 OSCE chairmanship provides additional opportunities for this. National Councillor Stefan Müller-Altermatt (The Centre Party), co-chair of the committee, explains: "Nagorno-Karabakh, as a de facto state, possessed partial international legal personality, which is why the Federal Council is perfectly capable of negotiating with its representatives. Why isn't it doing so?"
Attachments
Open letter to Federal President Guy Parmelin
Contact for inquiries Erich Vontobel, National Councillor EDU, +41 79 459 90 61; Stefan Müller-Altermatt, National Councillor The Centre Party, +41 76 332 15 26. Further information: www.swisspeacekarabakh.com For all inquiries: contact@swisspeacekarabakh.com
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