Azerbaijan hampering Karabakh settlement – Armenian foreign minister

Interfax, Russia
Feb 6 2015

Azerbaijan hampering Karabakh settlement – Armenian foreign minister

YEREVAN. Feb 6

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbaldyan informed the co-chairs of
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk
Group at a meeting in Munich that Azerbaijan frequently breaches the
ceasefire along the line of contact between the Armenian and Azeri
Armed Forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian Foreign Ministry
spokesman told Interfax.

“The authorities of Azerbaijan grossly defy the international
community’s calls, while their adventurist policy and provocative
actions only serve to further escalate the situation and hamper the
peaceful settlement process,” Nalbandyan said.

In recent weeks, Azerbaijan has breached the ceasefire more than 3,000
times, “leading to casualties, including among the civilian
population,” the Armenian minister said.

However, Yerevan will continue to work together with the OSCE Minsk
Group to secure an exclusively peaceful solution to the conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh, he said.

For his part, James Warlick, the U.S. co-chair of the Minsk Group,
which spearheads the OSCE’s efforts to find a peaceful solution to the
conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, welcomed the results of the meeting
with Nalbandyan.

“Good meeting with #Armenia FM @MunSecConf [on the sidelines of the
Munich Security Conference] to discuss #NKpeace [Nagorno-Karabakh
peace]. We [OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs] welcome his commitment to
reducing tensions [on the Armenian-Azeri border],” Warlick said on his
Twitter account.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry, for its part, called on the Armenian
foreign minister to take actual measures to initiate detailed
discussions on a peace treaty for Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Instead of making pointless, empty and demagogical statements, the
Armenian authorities, first and foremost, should launch work on a
peace treaty as soon as possible following the insistent calls and
appeals of the leadership of countries of the world led by the
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group,” Azeri Foreign Ministry spokesman
Hikmet Hajiyev said in a commentary on Friday.

According to the diplomat, Armenia needs to realize that peace and
stability would return to the region only after Armenia withdraws its
forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in line with four
resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council.

On January 27, the OSCE called on Azerbaijan and Armenia to
demonstrate restraint to prevent further escalation and reiterated the
importance of measures that could help prevent possible incidents
between the two countries.

tm cy

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress