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Nagorno Garabagh

Ambassador Lee Litzenberger: "US is committed to a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict"

07 November 2019 16:34 (UTC +04:00)

"The United States as one of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair countries is committed to a peaceful settlement of Nagorno Garabagh conflict," the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan told APA.

According to the ambassador, the US welcomes a significant reduction in tension along the contact line.

“Unfortunately, the ceasefire is violated time-by-time. We hope for the continuation of negotiations at the level of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. We support the peaceful solution of Nagorno Garabagh conflict through negotiations, as well”, emphasized the Ambassador.

The Nagorno Garabagh 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 Garabagh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno Garabagh 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 Garabagh 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 Garabagh.