Azerbaijani, Armenian presidents stand for continuation of peace talks - Popov

  19 June 2017    Read: 1178
Azerbaijani, Armenian presidents stand for continuation of peace talks - Popov
The OSCE Minsk Group hopes for the continuation of political dialogue between the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Igor Popov, told reporters in Baku on Monday, AzVision.az reported.
Popov noted that both in Baku and Yerevan the co-chairs held discussions in connection with the resumption of political dialogue.

“As a result of the discussions, it can be concluded that the presidents of both countries support the continuation of peace talks,” the Russian diplomat 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 December 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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