26 years pass since volatile ceasefire agreement between Armenia, Azerbaijan

By Azernews

By Akbar Mammadov

Twenty-six years have passed since the signing of the ceasefire agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which ended the war in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region on May 12, 1994.

As a result of the meeting of Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian sides in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on May 5, the sides agreed on the cease-fire and the agreement became to be known as the "Bishkek Protocol".

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region, which along with seven adjacent regions was occupied by Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and around one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France has been mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Group’s efforts have resulted in no progress and to this date, Armenia has failed to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) that demand the withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.