CSTO speaks for peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

YEREVAN, December 23. / ARKA /. In a statement issued today after a meeting of the Collective Security Council of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Moscow the presidents of CSTO members countries emphasized the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Novosti Armenia reported form Moscow.

The statements underscores the importance of an early completion of the basic principles for the peaceful resolution of the conflict with the assistance of international peace brokers from the OSCE Minsk Group on the basis of principles and norms of international law, the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, in particular those relating to the non-use of force or threat of force, territorial integrity, equality and the right of peoples to self-determination.

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-