France remains committed to Karabakh conflict's settlement through negotiations
By Rashid Shirinov
France remains fully committed to the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through negotiations, French Foreign Ministry said in a statement on February 21.
The ministry noted that France calls on the parties to the conflict to work in good faith in this direction and refrain from any statements or actions that could exacerbate tension.
France, along with Russia and the U.S., is a co-chair country of the OSCE Minsk Group established to broker peace to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The conflict 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 regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Until now, Armenia controls fifth part of Azerbaijan’s territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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