Azernews.Az

ASHGABAT – Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan visiting Turkmenistan has discussed the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh in a meeting with his counterpart Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, he said following the talks in Ashgabat.

"We have also discussed issues of security in the South Caucasus," Sargsyan told reporters. "I conveyed our views on ways of settling the Karabakh conflict to the Turkmen president. I stated that incessant military rhetoric and unseen armament are ratcheting up tension in the region."

Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war in the early 1990s, which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. A cease-fire was signed, but Armenia continues to occupy Nagorno Karabakh and seven adjacent Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law. Numerous rounds of OSCE-brokered negotiations have been largely fruitless so far. Azerbaijani officials have repeatedly warned that the country’s land will be freed at any cost.

Sargsyan said that crises and conflicts should be resolved strictly in peace and in line with international law, namely, without the use of force or such threats, the territorial integrity of states, and the right of nations to self-determination.

"Only with this approach it is possible to reach a fair and lasting peace."

During Sargsyan’s official visit to Ashgabat, Armenia and Turkmenistan signed four agreements covering cooperation in the fields of culture and education and a joint statement of the presidents.