EU urges to opt out hostile actions in view of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
By Mushvig Mehdiyev
The European Union has called on the parties involved in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to refrain from actions and statements that could spark tensions and disperse the peace process.
The EU report on Azerbaijan’s progress within the European Neighborhood Policy, read that 2014 marked the 20th anniversary of the 1994 ceasefire agreement in relation to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict against the background of a continued stalemate.
The EU believes that the security situation on the ground remains a matter of serious concern amid unprecedented incidents and casualties since 1994, as well as the rise in confrontational rhetoric and a continued arm race.
To this end, the EU urged the belligerents to step up the efforts towards a comprehensive peace settlement in accordance with the commitments undertaken within the Minsk Group.
Moreover, the organization urged the parties to refrain from any actions and/or statements which could heighten already tense relations and undermine the peace process.
The EU also underscored its commitment to support the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs and peace-building activities.
Armenia and Azerbaijan remain locked in a bitter territorial dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Armenia-backed separatists seized from Azerbaijan in a bloody war in the early 1990s.
Azerbaijan's internationally recognized Nagorno-Karabakh territory was turned into a battlefield and zone of aggravated tensions after Armenia sent its troops to occupy Azerbaijan's lands. As a result, 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory stands under military occupation. For the past two decades, and despite calls from the international community, Armenia has refused to withdraw its troops and retreat within its national borders.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.
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