Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The United States called on parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to refrain from violence and to continue efforts to resolve the conflict peacefully.

The U.S. State Department's Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said at daily press briefing in Washington, DC.

Answering the question about the recent incidents on the contact line, Harf said she was not aware of the facts.

"We do call on parties to try to refrain from violence and to work on issues through peaceful means," Harf said.

Armenian media reported on January 19-20 that clashes occurred on the contact line and the Armenian side suffered losses. Azerbaijani Defense Ministry refuted the reports.

After a day, Armenian subversion intelligence group tried to penetrate the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

The ceasefire violations come ahead of the next meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers to be attended by the Minsk group co-chairs on January 24, in Paris.

The Armenian provocative operations are mainly viewed as an attempt to interrupt the negotiations for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s.

The UN Security Council's four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal have not been enforced to this day.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the US and the OSCE Minsk Group are underway on the basis of a peaceful outline -called Madrid Principle -proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.