Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.9
By - Trend:
The EU calls on the sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to promote an environment conducive to progress in conflict settlement and to encourage and support related peace-building activities, the Spokeswoman to European Commission/Commissioner Maja Kocijancic said in an interview with Azernews.
"The EU supports the efforts of the Minsk Group and its three co-chairs, including though the work of the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, and complements them through enhanced support for peacebuilding activities across the conflict divide, aimed at facilitating the process of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," she said.
"The EU is also ready to provide reconstruction and rehabilitation support to the regions affected by the conflict, once a peace deal is reached," said Maja Kocijancic.
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 two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
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