Cyprus FM hopes for progress in Karabakh conflict settlement

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides has expressed hope that 2017 will be the year of progress in resolution of the conflicts in the Council of Europe area.

He made the remarks during the second day of PACE winter plenary part-session that kicked off in Strasbourg on January 23.

Touching upon the conflict settlement issues, he expressed hope for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, crises in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.

Cyprus is currently chairing the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.