TODAY.AZ / Politics

EU backs talks to peacefully settle Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

07 June 2016 [10:55] - TODAY.AZ

/By Azernews/

By Gunay Camal

The European Union is hopeful that the next meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents will become a concrete step in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, said Malena Mard, Head of the EU delegation to Baku.

Reminding that the OSCE Minsk Group is working on the conflict settlement, she stated that the EU “supports this process and hopes that the next meeting, if it takes place in June, can become a concrete step towards the conflict's settlement."

The OSCE Minsk Group, established to solve the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, earlier announced that the Azerbaijani and Armenian ministers confirmed the Presidents’ agreement on the next round of talks to be held in June with an aim to resuming negotiations on a comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The Co-Chairs have already delivered to the ministers for the consideration of the sides draft documents on expanding the existing office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and establishing an OSCE investigative mechanism.

Although there is no exact date set for the next presidential meeting, the OSCE MG expects it to take place in June.

Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for the EU high representative also confirmed that the EU supports the launch of negotiations on a comprehensive settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict.

Noting that the Vienna meeting was a necessary step in order to advance a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Kocijancic told Trend that the reiterated commitments made by the two presidents to the ceasefire and to the peaceful settlement of the conflict are of utmost importance.

The May 16 meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan in Vienna was their first face-to-face encounter since the April hostilities.

The presidents agreed on following of ceasefire, as well as on “a next round of talks, to be held in June at a place to be mutually agreed, with an aim to resuming negotiations on a comprehensive settlement.”

The agreements reached on measures aimed at the reduction of violence, strengthening the ceasefire, humanitarian issues, and on the resumption of high-level negotiations on a comprehensive settlement in June are also encouraging, according to the EU spokesperson.

"Such a meeting should take further steps towards the commitments achieved in Vienna," added Kocijancic.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

The bloody Nagorno-Karabakh war left 700,000 civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the regions adjoining it, as well as the regions bordering with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh without homes.

Moreover, 250,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from Armenia and became refugees due to Armenia's ethnic cleansing policy after the emergence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan.

Despite the official ceasefire, each year the conflict becomes a cause of the deaths of dozens of civilians and military. The latest outbreak of violence on the contact proved that it is impossible to resolve the conflict by keeping a status quo.


URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/151479.html

Print version

Views: 996

Connect with us. Get latest news and updates.

Recommend news to friend

  • Your name:
  • Your e-mail:
  • Friend's name:
  • Friend's e-mail: