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Nagorno-Karabakh conflict requires early political settlement - EU

20 June 2018 08:20 (UTC +04:00)

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict requires an early political settlement in full compliance with the norms and principles of international law, read a document published on the official European Union website.

"The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains an obstacle to strengthening stability and prosperity in the region. Since 2003, the EU Special Representative has been working to promote dialogue between the EU and the countries of the region, and to promote the development of a comprehensive EU policy towards the states of the region, including through its special representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, supports and complements the efforts of the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group (France, Russia and the US) to resolve the conflict, and the EU also promotes activities aimed at strengthening peace on both sides of the conflict", the document 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.