STABILITY IN REGION REMAINS DELICATE WITHOUT SOLVING NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT: CONSUL GENERAL

Trend
Oct 19 2009
Azerbaijan

Turkey-Armenia relations and stability in South Caucasus remain
delicate given the lack of significant progress in solving the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani Consul General to Los Angeles,
Elin Suleymanov, said.

"It is early to speak about new routes of energy resources export
without solving the conflict," Suleymanov’s article posted in
Washington Post said.

He said that the USA can promote achievement of real changes in South
Caucasus by encouraging overwhelming regional settlement on the basis
of stated adherence to intensify efforts to solve Armenia-Azerbaijan
conflict.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December
1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7
districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed
a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia,
France, and the U.S. – are currently holding the peace negotiations.