Azernews.Az

BAKU – The status-quo in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh does not guarantee stability though "it might suit some", a US negotiator brokering peace talks said.

Robert Bradtke, who co-chairs the mediating OSCE Minsk Group, said after a recent visit to the region that due attention is not being paid to the long-standing dispute and that it is not a "frozen", but an ongoing conflict.

"The situation has still not stabilized… This conflict is not being regularly covered by the world media," Bradtke told a conference on Monday devoted to the Karabakh conflict at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Bradtke said, however, that the U.S. is closely involved in facilitating a peaceful settlement of the conflict, noting that he has paid 16 visits to the region in a year’s time. He added that his country was closely cooperating at all levels with Russia and France, the other two co-chairs of the Minsk Group, to reach peace as soon as possible.

The Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 due to Armenia’s territorial claims. Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a brutal war which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces since a ceasefire was signed in 1994. Peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.