Azerbaijan’s arms race threatens regional stability: Armenian Vice Speaker
12.07.2013,
17:17
YEREVAN, July 12. / ARKA /. The Vice-Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov at a meeting with the chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Vladimir Andreychenko slammed Azerbaijan’s militaristic policy.
YEREVAN, July 12. / ARKA /. The Vice-Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov at a meeting with the chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Vladimir Andreychenko slammed Azerbaijan’s militaristic policy.
"The arms race unleashed by Azerbaijan threatens the stability of the region," Sharmazanov was quoted as saying by the Armenian parliament’s press service.
In turn Andreychenko stressed that Belarus stands for exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The two men were said to discuss a number of issues, in particular, they appreciated the positive dynamics of Armenian-Belarusian inter-parliamentary relations, noting that trade and economic cooperation between the two countries is much lower than the level of political relations.
As Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union and removed the powers held by the Karabakh’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-
"The arms race unleashed by Azerbaijan threatens the stability of the region," Sharmazanov was quoted as saying by the Armenian parliament’s press service.
In turn Andreychenko stressed that Belarus stands for exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The two men were said to discuss a number of issues, in particular, they appreciated the positive dynamics of Armenian-Belarusian inter-parliamentary relations, noting that trade and economic cooperation between the two countries is much lower than the level of political relations.
As Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union and removed the powers held by the Karabakh’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-
