Austria calls Armenia and Azerbaijan to redouble efforts to seek a solution to the Karabakh conflict through negotiations and is ready to offer its support, Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger stated at an annual lecture on “Austria’s Foreign Policy in Black Sea and Caucasus region”.

The Austrian FM stressed the conflicting parties should step up efforts within the OSCE Minsk Group and  continue confidence-building measures, the press service of Austrian Foreign Ministry informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. According to him, at his meetings with his partners from the region, Austria stresses the importance to find a peaceful solution to Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.

The Nagorno-Karabakh (armed) conflict broke out back in 1991, when, subsequent to the demand for self-determination of the Nagorno-Karabakh people, Azerbaijani authorities attempted to resolve the issue through ethnic cleansings, carried out by Soviet security forces (KGB special units) under the pretext of the implementation of the passport regime and by launching of large-scale military operations, which left thousands dead and caused considerable material damage. A cease-fire agreement was established in 1994. Negotiations on the settlement of the conflict are being conducted under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmen (Russia, USA, France) and on the basis of their Madrid proposals, presented in November, 2007.

Azerbaijan has not yet implemented the 4 resolutions of the UN Security Council adopted in 1993, by continuing to provoke arms race in the region and openly violating one of the basic principles of the international law non-use of force or threat of force.