Austria ready to contribute to peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, minister
YEREVAN, September 8. / ARKA /. Austria is ready to contribute to a
peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Austria’s
visiting foreign minister Sebastian Kurtz said today during a joint
press conference with Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian.
“We hope for a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict and
Austria for its part is ready to assist the parties to the conflict,”
said Kurtz.
He expressed hope that dialogue will prevail in the Karabakh peace
process ‘that will help reach a final settlement.”
The minister also expressed concern over the human rights situation in
Azerbaijan, saying he is going to discuss this problem during his
visit to Baku later this week.
“For us the issue of the protection of human rights, especially when
it comes to political prisoners in Azerbaijan is very important,” said
Kurtz.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the
collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly
Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan, sought to secede from
Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by succeeding
referendum. A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no
permanent peace agreement has been signed.
Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been
under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is
the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued to
simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with
snipers causing tens of deaths a year. -0-
From: Baghdasarian