Armenia calls to resolve Karabakh conflict ten years after cease-fire

Armenia is calling for a settlement to the Karakakh conflict in the run up to the ten-year anniversary of the cease-fire in 2004, said Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan in Maastricht at an OSCE meeting of ministers.

'This upcoming spring we will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the cease-fire on the Karabakh front, which is the only cease-fire agreement in the world that is controlled by the conflict adversaries themselves. The reason for this is the political will of both Armenia and Azerbaijan, which compels us to refrain from bloodshed. The leaders of both countries in the Karabakh conflict are working toward negotiating a solution, which will allow their citizens to live a routine way of life,' said Oskanyan. He also said that at the present time the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is stable enough to also have its own voice in the solution of the conflict. Oskanyan called on making the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic one of the negotiating parties in the settlement process.

At the present time, peace talks are taking place only between the leaderships of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Oskanyan recently stated that Armenia was prepared to leave the peace process if Nagorno-Karabakh was not given an independent place at the negotiating table.