PRESIDENT HOLLANDE TO PRESS AHEAD PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT
AzerNews, Azerbaijan
April 4 2014
4 April 2014, 15:13 (GMT+05:00)
By Nigar Orujova
The main purpose of the French president’s visit to Azerbaijan
is to support the peaceful settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
French Ambassador to Azerbaijan Pascal Meunier made the remark on
April 4.
President Francois Hollande’s visit to Azerbaijan is of great political
importance, the French president will visit Azerbaijan, Georgia and
Armenia, he said.
“I think that the conflict settlement will create more opportunities
for both parties. This is a sovereign region, which can shape its
future itself. We support peace and friendship between the countries
of the region,” Meunier said.
President Hollande will pay an official visit to Azerbaijan this year
at the invitation of his Azerbaijani counterpart. However, there is
no information about the exact date of the visit.
Francois Hollande confirmed his intention to visit Azerbaijan at a
meeting with Azerbaijani Ambassador to France Elchin Amirbayov.
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.
Long-standing efforts by US, Russian and French mediators have been
largely fruitless so far.
The UN Security Council has passed four resolutions on Armenian
withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been
enforced to this day.