Azerbaijan, Baku, 16 June / Trend corr S. Agayeva/ NATO supports peace settlement process of Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. "NATO supports Minsk Group's efforts to peacefully settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict," NATO representative Diego Ruiz-Palmer said to journalists in Baku on 16 June.
"NATO does not directly participate in the settling, but we watch the peace process and support OSCE and UN efforts to settle the conflict," he said.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.