Austria ready to contribute to peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, minister

YEREVAN, September 8. / ARKA /. Austria is ready to contribute to a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Austria’s visiting foreign minister Sebastian Kurtz said today during a joint press conference with Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian. 

"We hope for a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict and Austria for its part is ready to assist the parties to the conflict," said Kurtz.

He expressed hope that dialogue will prevail in the Karabakh peace process ‘that will help reach a final settlement.” 

The minister also expressed concern over the human rights situation in Azerbaijan, saying he is going to discuss this problem during his visit to Baku later this week.

"For us the issue of the protection of human rights, especially when it comes to political prisoners in Azerbaijan is very important," said Kurtz. 

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 succeeding referendum. 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. -0- 

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