CSTO calls for peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

YEREVAN, May 15. /ARKA/. The Collective Security Treaty Organization confirmed the conviction of the peaceful settlement of Nagorno- Karabakh conflict, according to the declaration adopted yesterday by the CSTO leaders in Moscow. 

“Affirming the urge of only peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, we underscore the importance of concluding the main principles of the settlement under The OSCE Minsk Group as soon as possible bearing in mind norms and principles of international law, the Charter of the United Nations, articles of Helsinki Final Act, specifically referring to refraining from the threat or use of force, territorial integrity of states, equal rights and self-determination of peoples,” the document says. 

The CSTO leaders met on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Treaty, signed on May 15, 1992, in Tashkent, and the 10th anniversary of the Organization established within the Treaty. 

Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are the current CSTO members.

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-