Baku, Azerbaijan, July 10
By Elena Kosolapova – Trend:
France can restart the peace process on Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by ensuring a fair mediation between two belligerents to put an end to dramatic assaults on civilians, French politician, former member of French Parliament and President of the French Association of Friends of Azerbaijan Jean-Francois Mansell told Trend.
He noted that the international community has little interest in this conflict which is considered to be frozen.
“Two of the three co-chairs of the Minsk Group, Russia and the United States, focus on their national interests. Only France can take the initiative,” Mansell said.
He noted that France is present in the Caucasus in many spheres, has good relations with both Azerbaijan and Armenia and wants to return to international initiatives.
Earlier, Mansell, among a number of former and current officials of France, signed a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron urging him to exert pressure on Armenia to fulfill the UN resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh.
It should be noted that on July 4 at about 20:40 (GMT+4 hours), the Armenian armed forces again violated ceasefire and, using 82-mm and 120-mm mortars and grenade launchers, shelled Azerbaijani positions and territories where the civilian population lives, namely the Alkhanli village of the country’s Fuzuli district, thereby grossly violating the requirements of international law, the Azerbaijani defense ministry said earlier.
As a result of this provocation, the residents of the village Sahiba Allahverdiyeva, 50, and Zahra Guliyeva, 2, were killed. Salminaz Guliyeva, 52, who got wounded, was taken to the hospital and was operated on.
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.