NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH NEGOTIATIONS
Trend News Agency
June 9 2008
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, Baku, 9 June / Т corr S. Agayeva/ "After passing of the
UN Resolution on the Situation in the Occupied Territory of Azerbaijan,
new opportunities have been created for the negotiations on settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and these must be accepted by
OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairs and other international organizations,"
Khazar Ibrahim, Spokesperson for Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, said
to journalists on 9 June.
At the beginning of March, the UN General Assembly supported
the Resolution on the Situation in the Occupied Territory of
Azerbaijan. The Resolution was passed, with 39 countries voting for,
7 against (including OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairing countries –
Russia, France and USA) and 100 abstained.
The resolution reflects a serious concern that the armed conflict in
the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan still poses a serious threat
to the international community and security, as well as negatively
affects the humanitarian situation in the South Caucasus countries.
The resolution reflects the necessity for all Armenian armed forces to
immediately and unconditionally withdraw from the occupied Azerbaijani
territories.
According to Ibrahim, Madrid proposals also provide good prospects
to settle the conflict.
Spokesperson said that after the next visit of Minsk Group
intermediaries to the region, scheduled for the end of June, it would
be possible to say whether any progress was achieved in the conflict
settling as a result of the meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian
Presidents in St Petersburg on 6 June.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.
–Boundary_(ID_oYiBJRxzqHJ +J5v3EDqP8g)–