Tehran supports peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict

YEREVAN, December 17. /ARKA/. Karabakh conflict should be resolved peacefully, in the framework of the international law, Iran’s minister of foreign affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif said at his meeting with Armenian deputy foreign minister Shavarsh Kocharyan in Tehran.

Armenian delegation headed by Kocharyan is in Iran’s capital invited by deputy foreign minister for Asia, Oceania and CIS Ibrahim Rahimpur for bilateral political consultations, the press office of Armenian foreign ministry reports.

Zarif said there are no limits restricting further development of friendly relations and mutually advantageous cooperation between Iran and Armenia in various fields.

Iran’s foreign minister highly appreciated Armenia’s position on bilateral cooperation on the international arena.

Kocharyan gave Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandyan’s regards to Zarif.

At the meeting with his counterpart Ibrahim Rahimpur Armenian deputy foreign minister discussed a number of issues on cooperation in political, economic and other fields.

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 co-chaired by the USA, Russia and France. –0--