Bulgarian foreign minister urges sides to Karabakh conflict avoid escalation
14.12.2012,
15:05
Bulgarian foreign minister Nikolay Mladenov called upon the sides to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to refrain from escalating tensions, Novosti-Armenia reported.
YEREVAN, December 14. /ARKA/. Bulgarian foreign minister Nikolay Mladenov called upon the sides to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to refrain from escalating tensions, Novosti-Armenia reported.
“There has been irrelevant escalation around Nagorno-Karabakh over the last months. I urge the parties to refrain from any provocative statement,” Mladenov told reporters in Yerevan today, at a joint briefing with his Swedish, Polish and Armenian counterparts.
Mladenov expressed hopes for de-escalation after the schedules discussions in Baku and Yerevan.
Foreign Minister of Poland Radoslav Sikorski, in his turn, called the parties to avoid any steps that can aggravate the situation.
“We are supporting peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” Sikorski said.
The Karabakh conflict started in 1988 when prevailingly Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh declared withdrawal from Azerbaijan. On December 10, 1991, a referendum was held in Nagorno-Karabakh where 99.89% voted for independence from Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan responded by large-scale military operations that led to loss of control not only over Nagorno-Karabakh itself, but also over seven adjoining areas. About 25-30 thousands people were killed and about a million had to leave their homes during the military operations.
A trilateral cease-fire agreement was signed on May 12, 2004, and has been followed since then.
The ongoing Karabakh peace process started in 1992 under auspices of OSCE Minsk Group. -0-
