Serzh Sargsyan says resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through people’s right to self-determination the only way to end conflict

YEREVAN, March 31, /ARKA/. Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan has reiterated today Yerevan’s official position that resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through peaceful implementation of its people’s right to self-determination is the only way to end the conflict as he spoke to a joint news conference with visiting president of Switzerland Michele-Calmy Rei.

‘We reconfirm our position that there is only one solution to the conflict- it is through peaceful implementation of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh of their hard-won right to self-determination,’ he was quoted by Novosti-Armenia news agency as saying.

He said that after the latest meeting with his Azeri counterpart in Russian Sochi mediated by Russian president he wants to believe that Azerbaijani authorities will be consistent and their words will not conflict with their actions.

President Serzh Sargsyan, Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev released a statement after their March 5 meeting stating their intention to "resolve all controversial questions in a peaceful manner." They agreed also to investigate skirmishes along the cease-fire line that killed more than 20 soldiers last year, along with other measures intended to defuse tensions.

The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh broke out in 1988 after the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave declared about secession from Azerbaijan As Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union and removed the powers held by the enclave's government, the Armenian majority voted in 1991, December 10, to secede from Azerbaijan and in the process proclaimed the enclave the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Full-scale fighting, initiated by Azerbaijan, erupted in the late winter of 1992. International mediation by several groups including Europe's OSCE’s failed to bring an end resolution that both sides could work with. In the spring of 1993, Armenian forces captured regions outside the enclave itself. By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of most of the enclave and also held and currently control seven regions beyond the administrative borders of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Almost 1 million people on both sides have been displaced as a result of the conflict. A Russian- -brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994 and peace talks, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, have been held ever since by Armenia and Azerbaijan.-0-