Details added (first version posted on 18:04)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 27
Trend:
The Netherlands supports the OSCE Minsk Group's efforts on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Dutch ambassador to Azerbaijan, Robert Jan Gabrielse, said during a press conference in Baku Apr. 27.
The parties should continue the talks within the Minsk Group, according to the ambassador.
"We hope that the conflict will be resolved within the Minsk Group," added Gabrielse.
"The work in this process has been intensified - Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has visited Baku and Yerevan," he said. "We support the Minsk Group's work on resolving the conflict."
On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.
Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.