Armenian president tells OSCE mediators about his meeting with Russian and Azerbaijani counterparts
21.06.2016,
10:44
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met Monday in Saint Petersburg with the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of Russia, James Warlick of the United States, and Pierre Andrieu of France) as well as with Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the press office of the Armenian president reports.
YEREVAN, June 21. /ARKA/. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met Monday in Saint Petersburg with the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of Russia, James Warlick of the United States, and Pierre Andrieu of France) as well as with Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the press office of the Armenian president reports.
According to the press release, Sargsyan presented impressions of his St. Petersburg meetings to the OSCE representatives – Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian presidents, Serzh Sargsyan, Ilham Aliyev and Vladimir Putin, met earlier on Monday in the city at the invitation of the Russian leader to discuss issues related to settlement of Karabakh conflict.
In a joint statement released after the meeting, the presidents confirmed their commitment to the agreements reached in Vienna on May 16 and agreed to continue trilateral talks on the Karabakh settlement aimed at stabilization of the situation in the conflict zone and to create the atmosphere favorable for promoting the peace process. They also agreed to increase the number of international observers in the conflict zone.
The presidents expressed their satisfaction with the continuing ceasefire regime on the contact line.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan sought to secede from Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by a successful referendum.
On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations. A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no permanent peace agreement has been signed. Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with snipers causing tens of deaths a year.
On April 2, 2016, Azerbaijan launched military assaults along the entire perimeter of its contact line with Nagorno-Karabakh. Four days later a cease-fire was reached. --0---
According to the press release, Sargsyan presented impressions of his St. Petersburg meetings to the OSCE representatives – Armenian, Azerbaijani and Russian presidents, Serzh Sargsyan, Ilham Aliyev and Vladimir Putin, met earlier on Monday in the city at the invitation of the Russian leader to discuss issues related to settlement of Karabakh conflict.
In a joint statement released after the meeting, the presidents confirmed their commitment to the agreements reached in Vienna on May 16 and agreed to continue trilateral talks on the Karabakh settlement aimed at stabilization of the situation in the conflict zone and to create the atmosphere favorable for promoting the peace process. They also agreed to increase the number of international observers in the conflict zone.
The presidents expressed their satisfaction with the continuing ceasefire regime on the contact line.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict erupted into armed clashes after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s as the predominantly Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan sought to secede from Azerbaijan and declared its independence backed by a successful referendum.
On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations. A truce was brokered by Russia in 1994, although no permanent peace agreement has been signed. Since then, Nagorno-Karabakh and several adjacent regions have been under the control of Armenian forces of Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh is the longest-running post-Soviet era conflict and has continued to simmer despite the relative peace of the past two decades, with snipers causing tens of deaths a year.
On April 2, 2016, Azerbaijan launched military assaults along the entire perimeter of its contact line with Nagorno-Karabakh. Four days later a cease-fire was reached. --0---
