(MENAFN – Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19

By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:

The OSCE Minsk Group has recognized only two parties to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan and Armenia, former OSCE Minsk Group co-chair from the US Matthew Bryza told Trend .

Bryza was commenting on Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan''s statement made at the panel debates on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

''Representatives of only Baku and Yerevan have participated in Minsk Group negotiations,'' former US ambassador added.

Bryza added that during his tenure at the US co-chair, the Armenian side occasionally requested participation by the so-called ''representatives'' of Nagorno-Karabakh, but all three co-chairs consistently rejected these requests.

''After the co-chairs'' quiet rebuffs, Yerevan never pressed the issue further,'' Bryza added. ''I interpreted this approach as a sign of the Armenian government''s need to ''check a political box'' with Karabakh Armenians without provoking Azerbaijan and threatening the positive momentum we were building at the negotiating table.''

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.