Nagorno-Karabakh republic must become mandatory party to negotiations
"The task of the foreign ministry is to make Artsakh (the Armenian name for Karabakh ) a party to the talks. The latest developments on the line of contact have again highlighted the importance of this demand and there is no alternative to it,’ Kocharyan said.
According to him, this will be the only way to prevent possible further provocations, as well as secure progress in the negotiation process.
"At the moment, there is only an agreement on cessation of hostilities along the line of contact," reminded Kocharyan.
The hostilities stopped on Tuesday afternoon as a result of a meeting of the chiefs of the general staffs of the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan held in Moscow, according to Armenia defense minister Seyran Ohanyan.
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 a successful 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 –