G8 Calls For Swift End To Regional Conflicts
Armenian President Robert Kocharian (left) with his Azerbaijani counterpart, İlham Aliyev (file photo) (Photolur)
In a statement after a meeting in Moscow, the ministers called on Azerbaijan and Armenia to show the political will needed to reach an agreement this year over Nagorno-Karabakh.
They also welcomed the launch of direct talks on Kosovo and urged a negotiated agreement.
(AP)
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In February 1988, the local assembly in Stepanakert, the local capital of the Azerbaijani region of NAGORNO-KARABAKH, passed a resolution calling for unification of the predominantly ethnic-Armenian region with Armenia. There were reports of violence against local Azeris, followed by attacks against Armenians in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait. In 1991-92, Azerbaijani forces launched an offensive against separatist forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, but the Armenians counterattacked and by 1993-94 had seized almost all of the region, as well as vast areas around it. About 600,000 Azeris were displaced and as many as 25,000 people were killed before a Russian-brokered cease-fire was imposed in May 1994.
CHRONOLOGY: For an annotated timeline of the fighting around Nagorno-Karabakh in 1988-94 and the long search for a permanent settlement to the conflict, click here.
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