U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton told her Armenian counterpart Edward Nalbandian that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be settled solely by peaceful means, RIA Novosti quoted the Armenian Foreign Ministry as saying.
Clinton said that the United States, as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group mediating the conflict, will continue working with the opposing parties to help them reach an agreement.
During the meeting that took place on Saturday at the 48th Munich Security Conference, Nalbandian praised the U.S. mediating role and spoke on the results of the January 23 meeting between the Armenian, Russian and Azerbaijani presidents in the southern Russian resort of Sochi on the Black Sea.
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.