Nagorno Garabagh

Nagorno Garabagh

Azerbaijani FM: OSCE should be active in resolution of Nagorno Karabakh conflict

11 May 2016 17:46 (UTC +04:00)

The Foreign Ministry told APA that the sides exchanged views on German and Azerbaijani-EU relations, energy cooperation, TAP and TANAP projects, economic cooperation, the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, international and regional issues.

Mammadyarov gave information about the current situation in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, stressed that the Armenian armed forces committed war crimes against Azerbaijani civilian population in the recent operations and Armenia has made provocative statements in this context. The foreign minister emphasized that the OSCE should be active in resolving the conflict and expressed hope that Germany can make a contribution in this regard during its chairmanship of the OSCE.

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 passed by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.