Baku, Azerbaijan, July 5
By Elena Kosolapova – Trend:
Role of parliamentarians is crucial to defuse existing conflicts and building confidence, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Austria’s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz told a meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA) in Minsk July 5.
Kurz also mentioned the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as well as other conflicts in the OSCE space.
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.