Baku, Azerbaijan, April 8
By Temkin Jafarov - Trend:
Iran is dissatisfied with the protracted nature of the negotiations on the settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs and Special Envoy on Caspian Affairs, Ebrahim Rahimpour told Trend on April 8.
"From the first days of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Iran sought to resolve this problem, considered itself responsible for this issue and worked much. And I believe that it had made some progress in the settlement issue until the process of the conflict's settlement was transferred to OSCE Minsk Group," Rahimpur said.
Iranian deputy foreign minister pointed out with regret that several processes in the region and between the two countries caused Iran's alienation from the settlement process.
"Currently, we are not satisfied with the protracted nature of the negotiation process on the settlement of the Karabakh problem. We hope that the two countries will reach an agreement, possible conflicts will be prevented in the future and the peoples in the region will live in peace and stability," the diplomat said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
Translated by L.Z.
Edited by C.N.