EU backs talks to peacefully settle Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

The European Union is hopeful that the next meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents will become a concrete step in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, said Malena Mard, Head of the EU delegation to Baku.

TApril hostilities.

The presidents agreed on following of ceasefire, as well as on “a next round of talks, to be held in June at a place to be mutually agreed, with an aim to resuming negotiations on a comprehensive settlement.”

The agreements reached on measures aimed at the reduction of violence, strengthening the ceasefire, humanitarian issues, and on the resumption of high-level negotiations on a comprehensive settlement in June are also encouraging, according to the EU spokesperson.

"Such a meeting should take further steps towards the commitments achieved in Vienna," added Kocijancic.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

The bloody Nagorno-Karabakh war left 700,000 civilians of Nagorno-Karabakh and the regions adjoining it, as well as the regions bordering with Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh without homes.

Moreover, 250,000 Azerbaijanis were expelled from Armenia and became refugees due to Armenia's ethnic cleansing policy after the emergence of the NagornoKarabakh conflict with Azerbaijan.

Despite the official ceasefire, each year the conflict becomes a cause of the deaths of dozens of civilians and military. The latest outbreak of violence on the contact proved that it is impossible to resolve the conflict by keeping a status quo.