NKR FM hopes Azerbaijan to stand by armistice

Mediamax news agency
14 Apr 04

Yerevan, 14 April: “The constant improvement of the fighting
efficiency of the defence army of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic (NKR)
inspires the confidence that peace in the region will be maintained,”
NKR Foreign Minister Ashot Gulyan has said in an interview with
Mediamax news agency.

On 5 May 1994 in Bishkek, the heads of the Armenian, Azerbaijani and
Nagornyy Karabakh parliaments, under the aegis of the
Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS, signed a protocol that served
as a basis for establishing an armistice in the zone of the Karabakh
conflict.

In his interview with Mediamax, Ashot Gulyan described the Bishkek
meeting as a “momentous stage in the history of the Karabakh
settlement”. He recalled that cease-fire agreements had also been
signed on the Karabakh-Azerbaijani front earlier, but in most cases
the truce was violated by the Azerbaijani side, which was also
confirmed by former mediators.

Ashot Gulyan noted the importance of the circumstance that over the
past 10 years, the armistice has been observed with the efforts of the
sides without the support of an international peacekeeping force. “The
cease-fire has been in place first of all owing to the balance of
forces in the region, and the constant improvement of the fighting
efficiency of the NKR defence army inspires the confidence that peace
in the region will be maintained,” the minister said.

The NKR defence minister expressed the hope that Azerbaijan would
stand by its commitment to the mediators to maintain the cease-fire
until the signing of a political agreement on the establishment of
comprehensive peace.

“I hope that the current armistice will secure lasting peace when a
final solution to the conflict is achieved,” Ashot Gulyan stated.