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France wants Karabakh conflict to be resolved based on Madrid principles

26 April 2016 14:40 (UTC +04:00)

France, together with Russia and the US will make every effort for peaceful resolution of the conflict, according to him.

There is a threat of renewed hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, and a new military conflict will lead to more suffering, the French secretary of state said.

There is no military solution to the conflict, Désir said.

The position of Paris is unchangeable, he said, adding that France advocates the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

He said that the weapons must be silenced, and both sides need to be prepared for a peace agreement, noting that France will mobilize all its efforts in this direction.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.