CSTO calls for peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

/By AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization called for a peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in a joint statement issued in Moscow on December 23.

The statement by Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan at the CSTO Council's meeting said it was important to achieve a soon completion of the work on the basic principles of the conflict's resolution.

"The OSCE Minsk Group should mediate to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict based on the main principles and norms of the international law, Charter of the UN, as well as provisions of the Helsinki Final Act, particularly those related to non-use of force or threats of use of force, territorial integrity, equality and right of self-determination of people," the statement said.

Heads of CSTO member-states approved 22 documents, including one joint statement, 19 decisions and two protocols during their summit in the Kremlin palace.

Discussions also touched upon the growing danger of extremism in the Central Asia region, as well as the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. They stressed the importance of the peace's restoration in the Eastern Europe country.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. However, the negotiations have been largely fruitless so far despite the efforts of the co-chair countries for over 20 years.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.