Nuland: the United States hopes that situation оn Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line will calm down soon
18.02.2015,
20:10
The United States hopes that things on the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani troops will calm down soon, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland said Wednesday in a news conference in Yerevan.
YEREVAN, February 18. /ARKA/. The United States hopes that things on the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani troops will calm down soon, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland said Wednesday in a news conference in Yerevan.
She was quoted by Novosti-Armenia as saying that her country is deeply concerned about violence on the contact line and that she talked to presidents Sargsyan and Aliev about the necessity to stop bloodshed – none of the conflicting sides will gain from it.
In her words, her meetings in Yerevan and Baku resulted in progress. Nuland expressed hope that tension on the contact line will subside very soon.
Tension on the contact line escalated in early January and since then reports about raids by Azerbaijani side have been coming almost every day.
Karabakh conflict broke out in 1988 when Karabakh, mainly populated by Armenians, declared its independence from Azerbaijan.
On December 10, 1991, a few days after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a referendum took place in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the majority of the population (99.89%) voted for secession from Azerbaijan.
Afterwards, large-scale military operations began. As a result, Azerbaijan lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven regions adjacent to it.
Some 30,000 people were killed in this war and about one million people fled their homes.
On May 12, 1994, the Bishkek cease-fire agreement put an end to the military operations. Since 1992, talks brokered by OSCE Minsk Group are being held over peaceful settlement of the conflict. The group is co-chaired by USA, Russia and France. -0---
