Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.16
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva - Trend:
Germany is for intensifying the talks on resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within the OSCE Minsk Group format, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany's federal minister for foreign affairs said in an interview with Interfax.
He made the remarks on the occasion of Germany's presidency of OSCE.
The minister said he wouldn't like to accept the fact that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is called a frozen one, adding that armed clashes along the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani armies cause concern.
Creating a mechanism for clarifying the circumstances of ceasefire violations would be an important step here, according to Steinmeier.
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 US are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Edited by SI