CIS countries interested in Karabakh conflict’s settlement
The countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States stand for the peaceful settlement of the situation in Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh and non-admission of hostilities' resumption in the region, said Sergey Lebedev, chairman of the CIS Executive Committee.
"The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, in relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia concerns all representatives of the CIS countries," said Lebedev, TASS agency reported on April 19.
He also noted that the CIS countries express sincere wishes for removal of the tension in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Lebedev expressed hope that these wishes will be taken into consideration and the joint efforts of the CIS countries and the OSCE Minsk Group will lead to the conflict's positive solution.
On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers.
The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.
Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on April 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.
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, in 1992 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 the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
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