EU envoy: Meetings significant for Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

The European Union supports a comprehensive peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, EU ambassador to Azerbaijan Malena Mard told reporters on December 9.

She made the remark while commenting on the December 8 meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg.

The EU also supports the OSCE Minsk Group’s mediatory activities, Mard said, adding the Union believes that the meetings and talks between the conflict parties are significant for the progress in the conflict’s resolution.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has earlier said that the 3+2 format meeting (three OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers) on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Hamburg did not take place due to Armenia’s destructive policy and the attempts of the Armenian side to avoid negotiations.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.

Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.