Epress.am News from Armenia
On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the peace process for the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan sent messages to the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair states – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, US President Barack Obama, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Sargsyan expressed gratitude for the consistent efforts undertaken by the co-chair states and personally by the presidents in the last twenty years and aimed at the resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
Noting that even though the main objective of the process – settlement of the conflict — remains unattainable, the Armenian leader noted that, nevertheless, it is impossible to overestimate the tremendous work conducted in the last twenty years by the co-chairmanship of the Minsk Group aimed at bringing the positions of the parties closer, developing the basic principles, easing tension and upholding peace, reads the news release issued by the president’s office.
Sargsyan assured the men that Armenia, being greatly interested in the settlement of the conflict, will continue its positive and constructive engagement in the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in the framework of the Minsk Group for the benefit of the regional stability and cooperation and the brightest future for the peoples.
Note, the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan after a bloody war in the 1990s and is populated mainly by ethnic Armenians. Today it exists as a de-facto independent state under an uneasy ceasefire, and OSCE-brokered efforts to resolve its status have so far been unsuccessful.