OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs inform Karabakh army commander about results of their regional tour
19.02.2015,
14:34
Movses Hakobyan, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s defense minister, received today OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Igor Popov (Russia), Pierre Andrieu (France) and James Warlick (the United States) and Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of OSCE CiO.
STEPANAKERT, February 19. /ARKA/. Movses Hakobyan, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s defense minister, received today OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Igor Popov (Russia), Pierre Andrieu (France) and James Warlick (the United States) and Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of OSCE CiO.
“At these meeting the co-chairs informed the Karabakh army commander about the results of their regional visits and discussed conflict settlement prospects with him,” the press office of the ministry reports.
Hakobyan talked to the mediators about incidents on the line of contact between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan and answered the questions they put to him.
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---
