AzerNews, Azerbaijan
Jan 28 2015
Matthew Bryza urges U.S. to be more attentive toward Azerbaijan
28 January 2015, 17:44 (GMT+04:00)
By Sara Rajabova
The former U.S. ambassador has said Washington should pay more
attention to Azerbaijan.
Matthew Bryza, the former deputy assistant secretary of state for
Europe and Eurasia, the director of the International Centre for
Defense and Security in Estonia told Trend on January 28 that the U.S.
should be more attentive towards Azerbaijan, as this country is its
strategic partner.
“The U.S. should play a more effective role in the South Caucasus,
especially in terms of support for the territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan on the basis of the negotiating process and international
principles,” Bryza said.
Bryza also was one of the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group that was
tasked to mediate over the settlement of the long-lasting
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,emerged after Armenia laid territorial
claims against Azerbaijan.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally
recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent
regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus
neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s.
Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE
Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by
the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. However,
the negotiations have been largely fruitless so far despite the
efforts of the co-chair countries over 20 years.
Armenia continues the occupation in defiance of four UN Security
Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional
withdrawal.