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1 December 2016

Malahat Najafova – APA.Az

Bosnia and Herzegovina supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, said the country’s Foreign Minister Igor Crnadak. He made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov in Baku Dec. 1.

 “Our parliament recently adopted a document in this regard. We wish the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to be settled peacefully and within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity,” Crnadak noted.

Azerbaijan and Bosnia and Herzegovina enjoy fine relations, said the FM.

Speaking of energy projects, the minister said his country is much interested in this area. 

 “We’re carrying out reforms to attract foreign investors. Azerbaijan is already investing in our country, but we want it in greater amounts. Also, we are planning to hold a forum in the future,” added Crnadak.

The minister thanked Azerbaijan for aiding Bosnia and Herzegovina during the disastrous floods that hit the country two years ago. 

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in Dec.1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.