Baku, Azerbaijan, June 22
Trend:
The meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, will open up new opportunities for the stage-by-stage settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Emil Huseynli, head of the 'Support for Youth Development - Dushunje' Public Association, told Trend June 22.
St. Petersburg hosted a summit of Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian presidents, Ilham Aliyev, Vladimir Putin and Serzh Sargsyan with participation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs June 20.
Huseynli recalled that right after the meeting, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said constructive discussions were held in St. Petersburg.
The NGO head says these remarks show that Armenia has understood the impossibility of maintaining the current status quo.
“It is obvious that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, Russia in particular, display a serious will for the conflict’s settlement as soon as possible,” he added.
Huseynli pointed out that Baku has unequivocally expressed its position: the status quo should be changed and the conflict should be resolved stage-by-stage.
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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.