Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said Armenia’s stance regarding the status of Nagorno-Karabakh remains unchanged.
“You know Armenia’s stance regarding the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. It has remained unchanged, of course,” Pashinyan told TASS in an interview in reply to a question why the trilateral statement adopted by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on the cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh said nothing about the status of this region.
Pashinyan said the status of Nagorno-Karabakh was yet to be determined through the negotiation process within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.
“As a matter of fact, there is consensus, at least among the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, and Armenia agrees with this viewpoint, that the negotiations must go on within the framework of the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group and that the issues that were not resolved in the joint statement are to become a subject matter [for discussion] within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairmanship,” Pashinyan said.
Baku and Yerevan have disputed sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh since February 1988, when it declared secession from the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic. During the armed conflict of 1992-1994 Azerbaijan lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjoining districts.
Tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh soared again on September 27 and hostilities in the disputed territory flared up. Under a trilateral statement of November 9, complete ceasefire was established, Azerbaijani and Armenian units stopped at their positions and a Russian peacekeeping contingent was deployed to the engagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor connecting Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The OSCE Minsk Group for Nagorno-Karabakh was created in 1992 for promoting a settlement of the conflict. Its co-chairs are Russia, France and the United States. Originally it was responsible for making preparations for conferences. Since June 1993 it has brokered all conflict settlement efforts and since March 1994 the Minsk Group has been directly involved in talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Source: TASS
