Azerbaijan 'accountable for losses on both sides of Karabakh contact line'

July 1, 2017 - 16:06 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan is responsible for casualties on both sides of the contact line with Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), Armenia’s deputy parliament speaker Eduard Sharmazanov told colleagues in Slovakia.

Sharmazanov’s delegation, which includes lawmakers Gagik Melikyan and Vardan Bostanjyan, is currently in Slovakia for an interparliamentary meeting with Lukas Parizek,the State Secretary of the Slovak Foreign Ministry and European Affairs, as well as Dusan Tittel, the head of Slovakia-Armenia friendship group.

At the meeting, Sharmazanov detailed the Slovak officials on the situation along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the contact line between Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

The deputy speaker said that Azerbaijan’s provocations result in human losses, with Turkey too escalating the situation by keeping the border with Armenia shut.

Also, the sides discussed ways to combat terrorism worldwide, agreed to expand bilateral cooperation, and weighed in on issues currently on the Armenia-European Union agenda.

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out as result of the ethnic cleansing launched by the Azeri authorities in the final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from 1991 (when the Nagorno Karabakh Republic was proclaimed) to 1994 (when a ceasefire was sealed by Armenia, NKR and Azerbaijan). Most of Nagorno Karabakh and a security zone consisting of 7 regions are now under control of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.