The EU supports territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan, when it comes to Nagorno-Karabakh, Malena Mard, head of the EU Delegation in Azerbaijan, told reporters in Baku April 14.

“We are very clear that the status quo in the conflict is unsustainable”, she said.

“We need to move towards a peaceful settlement of the conflict. The conflict was also in the spotlight during the recent visit of EU High Representative Federica Mogherini to Azerbaijan,” Mard stressed.

She went on to add that the visit of the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Herbert Salber to the region will take place in a few days. “In my opinion, Herbert Salber’s activity shows the EU’s attention to settlement process,” Mard 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 OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Poland, 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.

More about: