TODAY.AZ / Politics

EU calls on Yerevan, Baku to use new methods to settle Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

21 May 2015 [15:50] - TODAY.AZ

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

A senior European Union official has called on the parties to the long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict – Armenia and Azerbaijan, to use new methods to settle this problem peacefully.

Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy said at a press conference in Riga on May 20 that the EU is trying to do everything it can to resolve the protracted Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Trend reported.

“Armenia and Azerbaijan have to use new methods to solve the conflict. A very good example for this is the Balkans, where we watched cross-border cooperation. Maybe, it is possible to organize cross-border cooperation between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” Hahn said.

He noted that first of all, this project is important to build confidence between the parties.

“The younger generation wants to overcome the bitterness of the past. In the coming years we intend to develop cross-border cooperation in the South Caucasus,” Hahn said.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in a conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. This led to a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

Another EU official considered that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict can only be resolved through dialogue.

“This problem (Nagorno-Karabakh) must be solved through dialogue, we do not have other methods. Some politicians expect that the European Union will help by military means, but we must be realistic - it's impossible. We must seek solutions through dialogue,” said Donald Tusk, chairman of the European Council on May 20 during an interview with a small circle of journalists of the "Eastern Partnership” in Riga, RIA Novosti reported.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by US, Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far. Armenia has not yet implemented any of the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions demanding Armenian armed forces’ pullout from Azerbaijani territories.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/140916.html

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