UN chief: Term ‘frozen conflict’ on Karbakh conflict misleading

UN chief: Term ‘frozen conflict’ on Karbakh conflict misleading
# 22 February 2017 09:22 (UTC +04:00)

The term “frozen conflict”, which is often used about conflicts in Europe, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, is misleading, UN Secretary General António Guterres said in his remarks to the Security Council Open Debate on Conflicts in Europe, APA reported.

He noted that until peace agreements are signed and implemented, the risk of renewed violence remains -- as we saw last April in Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus.

The UN fully supports the efforts of the OSCE’s Minsk Group and urges the parties to the conflict to de-escalate tensions and fully implement agreed conflict prevention measures, said the secretary general.

“I urge all concerned to show greater political will, not only to strengthen the ceasefire regime and implement previous commitments, but to renew a sustainable and comprehensive negotiation process,” he said.

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.

Nagorno Garabagh

#
#

THE OPERATION IS BEING PERFORMED