The settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will soon be discussed between Moscow and Baku, Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told a briefing on Wednesday.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s settlement will also be discussed during the upcoming visit of Armenia’s foreign minister’s to Moscow, Zakharova said whiled asked to comment on Armenia’s plans to hold a “referendum” in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan.
“I want to announce that contacts will soon be held with the Azerbaijani side at the appropriate level to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh problem. As for the planned “referendum” in Nagorno-Karabakh, we will express our attitude later,” she added.
According to her, there is no information that the Russian, Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers will hold a trilateral meeting in the near future.
“There is no such information. If there is an agreement on the meeting, we will inform you immediately,” said Zakharova.
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 CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in Dec.1994) 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, the 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.
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