PACE President calls for diplomatic efforts to solve Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
By Sara Rajabova
Diplomatic efforts must be stepped up for the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which erupted back in 1988 after Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Anne Brasseur made the remarks at the organization's summer session.
Brasseur said the PACE stands ready to support this process within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.
"At the same time, we also stand ready to continue working with parliamentarians, members of the assembly from Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations in order to foster dialogue and help build an atmosphere of trust, which is essential for making progress," she stressed.
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 U.S., 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.