EU calls for peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
By Sara Rajabova
The world's most influential international organizations and countries call for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, emerged upon Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton's spokesperson Maja Kocijancic told Trend news agency that the European Union stresses the importance of finding a peaceful settlement to conflicts in the South Caucasus and calls for strong commitment by all concerned parties in this respect.
Kocijancic pointed out the EU's support the mediation efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group, including recent statements by the Presidents of the Minsk Group Chair countries urging the leaders of all the sides to recommit to the Helsinki principles, particularly those relating to the non-use of force or the threat of force, territorial integrity, and equal rights and self-determination of peoples.
She also noted that the EU supports appeals to avoid actions or rhetoric that could raise tension in the region and lead to escalation of the conflict.
The EU stands ready to provide enhanced support for confidence building measures, in support of and in full complementarity with the Minsk Group, with the view to facilitating further steps towards the implementation of peace, Kocijancic emphasized.
She added the EU believes that the strengthened relations between the EU and the three countries in the South Caucasus have opened new avenues and opportunities for the EU to support conflict settlement efforts in the region.
The EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus will continue to play a significant role in this regard, Kocijancic said.
For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by US, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.
Peace talks aimed at resolving the long-standing conflict, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.