OSCE Ministerial Council to mull settlement of Karabakh conflict

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Settlement of conflicts in the OSCE area, including the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, within the existing formats will be discussed at the OSCE Informal Ministerial Meeting scheduled for July 11 in Austria’s Mauerbach town.

Russian Foreign Ministry’s Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced about this at a briefing on June 29. She added that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will also take part in this meeting organized by OSCE chairperson-in-office, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region 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. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.