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06Apr16


Armenia urges return to 1994-1995 ceasefire accords at Nagorno-Karabakh talks


Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan says it is necessary to go back to the ceasefire agreements of 1994-1995 at the talks on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis.

"Naturally, the ultimate goal of the negotiations is a full-fledge peace treaty," the diplomat said. "However, in this case one can only speak of the 1994 agreement on armistice and the one on strengthening the ceasefire regime reached in 1995." According to Kocharyan, "before talking about new documents, it is necessary first to return to these existing documents." "Of course, the warring factions should get back to the positions where they had been before the recent clashes," the diplomat said.

Moreover, the future peace agreement on Nagorno-Karabakh "suggests that the Madrid principles of settlement will be accepted by all three parties, including Nagorno-Karabakh," Kocharyan said.

The issue of Nagorno-Karabakh's return as a party to the talks "has always been on Armenia's agenda," and Yerevan "will continue practical work in this direction," Kocharyan said. He confirmed that "the involvement of Nagorno-Karabakh in the negotiation process is a number one issue on our agenda."

"The latest events have again shown that there is no alternative to the involvement of Nagorno-Karabakh (in the talks - TASS)," Kocharyan went on to say. This is important "both for the prevention such provocations in the future and in terms of the progress in the negotiation process," he said.

The Armenian diplomat has also confirmed Russia's important role in achieving agreements on ceasefire on the contact line in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The agreement on the cessation of combat actions in Nagorno-Karabakh from 11:00 a.m. (0800GMT) Moscow time on April 5 was reached at the meeting of chiefs of General Staff of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia on Tuesday, he reminded.

"Russia was in an ambivalent position," Kocharyan said. "On the one hand, it is a mediator in the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh, and on the other hand taking into consideration that the events were not against Armenia but against Nagorno-Karabakh, it did not consider that it was obliged to react, one can say. From this point of view, Russia's reaction was that of a mediator."

"One way or another, Russia also played an important role in the ceasefire issue," the diplomat said.

The situation along the line of contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone deteriorated dramatically overnight on April 2, fierce clashes began. The parties to the conflict accused each other of violating the truce.

[Source: Itar Tass, Yerevan, 06Apr16]

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