OSCE Minsk Group Hails Armenia’s Commitment To Reducing Tension On B

OSCE MINSK GROUP HAILS ARMENIA’S COMMITMENT TO REDUCING TENSION ON BORDER WITH AZERBAIJAN

YEREVAN, February 6. / ARKA /. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs from
the USA, France and Russia welcomed Armenia’s commitment to reducing
tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, the US co-chair James
Warlick wrote in his Twitter microblog.

“We had a good meeting with Armenian foreign minister Edward
Nalbandian on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to
discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We welcomed his commitment to
the reduction of tension in the conflict zone,” he wrote, according
to RIA Novosti. He also posted a photo of the meeting.

Nalbandian’s meeting with Igor Popov (Russia), Pierre Andrieu (France)
and James Warlick (USA), as well as the Personal Representative of
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk took place on Thursday
night in Munich.

During the meeting Nalbandian drew the co-chairs’ attention to
violation of ceasefire by Azerbaijan on the border with Armenia and
on the line of contact with the armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to him, the leadership of Azerbaijan “hampers the peace
process.” At the same time, Nalbandian confirmed that Armenia
will continue joint efforts with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Grouptowards a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh problem.

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-