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Nagorno Garabagh

Moscow comments on Azerbaijani presidentâ€™s statement on possibility of autonomy to Karabakh

27 October 2016 14:42 (UTC +04:00)

Moscow. Farid Akbarov – APA. Speaking at a weekly press conference in Moscow Oct. 27, Russian Foreign Minister spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on the statement by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev regarding the possibility of granting the status of autonomous republic to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Asked about the possible affect of the aforementioned statement on the negotiation process, Zakharova said the key phrase in the statement is the parties’ coming to an agreement, APA's correspondent reported from Moscow.

“The parties should come to an agreement,” she added.

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.