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Georgian professor joins Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform

15 March 2017 10:55 (UTC +04:00)

Guram Markhuliya, a historian, professor of the Tbilisi-based Sokhumi State University, has joined the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace.

APA presents the statement made by the professor in this regard.

“I consider that the only solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is peaceful settlement, taking into consideration territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as internationally recognized borders of both states. I would like to stress the importance of implementation of relevant resolutions adopted by UN Security Council, too. I understand the importance of activity of OSCE Minsk Group towards peaceful solution of the conflict. In modern times I express with regret that the perception of both states has formed in the context of war. I support coexistence of nations and settlement of the conflict that has been lasting for over 25 years. Considering the above-mentioned reasons, I make a statement on joining the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace, aimed at solving the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully.”

For the purposes of contributing to a peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace was established on December 6, 2016. The Platform is an initiative of the citizens of Azerbaijan and Armenia who wish to contribute to the peaceful settlement of the conflict.

The initiative on the creation of the Platform has generated the interest of the international community as well as attracted the high level of public attention in both conflicting states. A large number of well-known experts highly appreciated this initiative and stressed the very special role of the above-mentioned peacekeeping initiative in the process of the peaceful settlement of the conflict.

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.