The OSCE Minsk Group will continue work to reach progress in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the US Co-Chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, Ambassador James Warlick told Trend.
“Co-Chairs will continue to engage the sides at the highest levels to make progress towards a settlement,” he said.
“Engaging in negotiations that could lead to a peace agreement and adopting measures that reduce the likelihood of incidents along the Line of Contact and the Armenia-Azerbaijan border would help to decrease tensions,” said Warlick. “We encourage the sides to consider such proposals seriously.”
He went on to add that it is important that the sides commit themselves to a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 2015.
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.
Trend.az