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EU: Growing hatred between Armenia and Azerbaijan is fraught with consequences

Politics Materials 7 June 2013 13:51 (UTC +04:00)
The EU’s greatest achievement is peace. Europe has never had such long term peace. It has achieved this and wants to bring peace to the South Caucasus, head of the EU delegation to Azerbaijan Roland Kobia said at the ‘EU-Azerbaijan: security and integration’ conference today.
EU: Growing hatred between Armenia and Azerbaijan is fraught with consequences

Azerbaijan, Baku, June 7 / Trend I. Izzet /

The EU's greatest achievement is peace. Europe has never had such long term peace. It has achieved this and wants to bring peace to the South Caucasus, head of the EU delegation to Azerbaijan Roland Kobia said at the 'EU-Azerbaijan: security and integration' conference today.

The conference was organised by the Azerbaijani Centre for Strategic Studies and the European political centre.

Kobia said the EU supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

"We can do more," he said. "During the four years of my stay in Azerbaijan, I was asked why the EU is not involved in this process. But if we are not invited, it is very difficult to do this. We have such as representative as France in the Minsk Group. We also have a special representative for the South Caucasus. We support the activity of the Minsk Group to resolve this problem."

He added it is necessary to increase the level of trust between the parties to resolve the conflict. The EU seeks to establish trust between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"If the hatred is intensified, it is fraught with many consequences," Kobia said.

The most important thing is a political will of the parties without which the mediation will not bear results, he said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group comprising Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

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