Baku, Azerbaijan, May 11
By Claude Salhani - Trend:
France will do everything in its power to find a peaceful solution to the current conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, French president Francois Hollande said in Baku on May 11.
"I come to Azerbaijan as part of a visit to the Caucasus. I am also going to visit Armenia and Georgia", Hollande told a gathering of French citizens Sunday night shortly after his arrival for a two-day official visit.
The French president explained that the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh remains quite tense at the moment.
"I say the moment, but this conflict has been going on for many years now," he said.
"The situation remains tense, and there have been tens of thousands of deaths, and recently there have been some incidents as well. So France will do everything it possibly can in its capacity as co chair of the Minsk group, to find a peaceful solution to allow Azerbaijan and Armenia to settle the issue in peace," the French president said.
"I think it is in the interest of two countries," he concluded.
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 two countries 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.