TODAY.AZ / Politics

Expert: EU to take more principled position on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

23 August 2017 [14:35] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews


By Sara Israfilbayova
 
Diplomatic talks over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are proceeding slow, while it continues to claim lives of innocent Azerbaijani civilians.
 
Yerevan, in a bid to keep the dangerous status quo in the conflict and impede the peace negotiations, keeps breaching the ceasefire and firing at civilians leaving in areas adjacent to the frontline. On the other hand, Baku seeks resumption of the peace talks that will bring effective solution to the long-lasting conflict. But, the Azerbaijani authorities stress that the military option is not excluded.
 
So far,all of efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group established to broker a peace to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict brought no tangible results. Armenia also ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.
 
Expert Nikita Isayev believes that the European Union (EU) will soon take a more principled position on the  Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which lasts almost three decades, and show a critical will for its settlement.
 
"The EU may express its position on the behalf of France, which is one of the co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group. Unfortunately, this will happen without paying significant attention to Russia’s position," the leader of the New Russia public and political movement said.
 
The EU, which is not directly involved in the conflict resolution, has repeatedly stated that the status quo is unacceptable and supports diplomatic settlement of the conflict within the framework of the Minsk Group.
 
 The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, now Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the conflict. It is co-chaired by France, the Russian Federation, and the United States.

The analyst noted that the principles of the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the proposals on its settlement that were previously voiced by international mediators, may change in this case.

“The current settlement principles lead to impasse and don’t resolve the conflict, they are fraught with escalation of tensions in the South Caucasus region,” he said. “The escalation of the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region is dangerous not only for the direct participants of the conflict, but for the entire region.”

Isayev stressed the need for fimding new ways for the peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, 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.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/164333.html

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