Azernews.Az

BAKU – The European Union envoy to Azerbaijan has called for speeding up the settlement of the long-standing Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

"Armenia and Azerbaijan could not reach agreement on a settlement of the conflict in Kazan [the June meeting between the two countries’ leaders]," Roland Kobia told reporters on Tuesday. "This does not mean, however, that the whole process has failed. Certainly, the lack of progress in Kazan is disappointing, but the meeting in Sochi [between the Russian and Azerbaijani leaders] a few days ago, as far as I heard, was held in a quite positive environment. We want the [peace] process to be continued."

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hosted his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, on June 24, the ninth in a series of trilateral meetings on the Karabakh conflict. The leaders of the mediating countries had urged to finalize a roadmap of a peace agreement during the Kazan summit, but such a document was not signed, and the parties even traded accusations after the meeting.

Regarding clashes on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, Kobia said the EU was disappointed with such incidents.

"Due to the standing ceasefire, such incidents should not take place, either from the Armenian or the Azerbaijani side. No one should be killed there. Both sides must honor the ceasefire," the head of the EU delegation said.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile cease-fire in 1994. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, has been under the occupation of Armenian armed forces since the war that displaced up to a million Azerbaijanis. OSCE-brokered peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.