Resolving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict among main priorities of int’l community
By Sara Rajabova
Deputy Foreign Minister and State Secretary for Strategic Affairs of Romania, Bogdan Aurescu says resolving Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is among the main priorities of international community.
"We don't want the situation in Crimea lead to a ring of ongoing conflicts around the Black Sea - such as conflicts on Transdniestrian, breakaway regions in Georgia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Therefore, dialogue on this issue and international will to resolve these conflicts are highly important," he said.
Aurescu, who visited Azerbaijan last week, said the situation in the Crimea is very tense and the international community is monitoring it closely.
"But it does not mean that other conflicts, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict have been forgotten. On the contrary, I believe that the situation in Ukraine will even attract more international attention to the need to find a solution to other conflicts and will intensify the efforts to settle them," Aurescu said.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.
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 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.