Bulgarian foreign minister urges sides to Karabakh conflict avoid escalation
YEREVAN, December 14. /ARKA/. Bulgarian foreign minister Nikolay
Mladenov called upon the sides to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to refrain
from escalating tensions, Novosti-Armenia reported.
`There has been irrelevant escalation around Nagorno-Karabakh over the
last months. I urge the parties to refrain from any provocative
statement,’ Mladenov told reporters in Yerevan today, at a joint
briefing with his Swedish, Polish and Armenian counterparts.
Mladenov expressed hopes for de-escalation after the schedules
discussions in Baku and Yerevan.
Foreign Minister of Poland Radoslav Sikorski, in his turn, called the
parties to avoid any steps that can aggravate the situation.
`We are supporting peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,’
Sikorski said.
The Karabakh conflict started in 1988 when prevailingly Armenian
population of Nagorno-Karabakh declared withdrawal from Azerbaijan. On
December 10, 1991, a referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh where
99.89% voted for independence from Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan responded by large-scale military operations that led to
loss of control not only over Nagorno-Karabakh itself, but also over
seven adjoining areas. About 25-30 thousands people were killed and
about a million had to leave their homes during the military
operations.
A trilateral cease-fire agreement was signed on May 12, 2004, and has
been followed since then.
The ongoing Karabakh peace process started in 1992 under auspices of
OSCE Minsk Group. -0-
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