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NATO says concerned over possible military escalation in Karabakh

09 December 2016 12:47 (UTC +04:00)

NATO is always concerned about a possible military escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, NATO Alliance Liaison Officer in the South Caucasus William Lahue said on Friday.

He noted that NATO supports the Minsk process aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the conflict.

“We stand for a peaceful solution and think reaching an agreement depends on the parties to the conflict,” Lahue said.

The NATO representative also commented on the creation of a united group of Russian and Armenian troops.

“Armenia is a sovereign country which itself decides how to build a relationship with its neighbors,” Lahue said, adding that NATO respects the sovereignty of all countries and each country has the right to make decisions in relation to its security and foreign relations.

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.