Baku, Azerbaijan, April 3
Trend:
British MP, member of the UK-Azerbaijan interparliamentary friendship group Bob Blackman made a statement in connection with the violation by Armenia of the ceasefire on the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh, The European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS) told Trend.
He said that tension has been simmering on the contact line for many months. "Now it seems that full-scale fighting has broken out. The United Nations must step in and ensure that the Armenian forces withdraw from Azerbaijani territory as instructed by their own Security Council resolutions number 822, 853, 874 and 884", Blackman added.
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.