Baku, Azerbaijan, May 12
By Elmira Tariverdiyeva – Trend:
Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh flared in April 2016, and both sides’ unwillingness to compromise and mounting domestic pressures suggest that the potential for large-scale hostilities will remain in 2017, said a statement for the record of Daniel R. Coats, US director of national intelligence.
Azerbaijan will continue to try to balance relations with Russia, Iran, and the West, reads the statement for the record, entitled “Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community.”
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.