Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The United States called on both Yerevan and Baku to take serious steps to peacefully resolve the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The U.S. embassy in Azerbaijan told Trend Agency that the U.S. government remains fully committed to this effort.

The embassy also commented on Baku's statement on removing U.S. diplomat James Warlick from the post in the OSCE Minsk Group.

"The United States Government disagrees with Deputy Foreign Minister Azimov's assessment," the embassy's statement said.

Azerbaijani officials have recently voiced dissatisfaction with the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk group because of his pro-Armenian position.

Warlick's comments on social networks have repeatedly caused concern for the Azerbaijani side.

Deputy Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Araz Azimov has said in his interview with local media that Baku can raise the issue of removing of Warlick as co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group.

He said the Azerbaijani side has every reason to express distrust about Warlick, refuse to work with him, and appeal to the OSCE Chairman to remove Warlick from his post.

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.