YEREVAN, JULY 24, ARMENPRESS. The Nagorno Karabakh conflict must be solved through peaceful negotiations. The Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Armenia Mohammad Raiesi announced about this in an interview with journalists on July 24. “The official stance of Iran over conflicts, particularly NK settlement problem, is firm: All the problems must be solved through peaceful negotiations based on internationally accepted norms”, as “Armenpress” reports, he noted, adding that Iran also feels responsible for maintaining peace and security in the region.

The current phase of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict started in 1988, when, in response to the NK population’s demand for self-determination, the Azerbaijani authorities tried to solve the problem by ethnic cleanings in all regions of Azerbaijan, particularly in Kirovabad, Sumgait, and Baku, and full-scale war, which resulted in thousands of causalities.

The ceasefire agreement signed at the request of Azerbaijan between Azerbaijan, Armenia and Karabakh came into force on July 12, 1994. Currently, negotiations over the conflict settlement are conducted by the mediation of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs (Russia, USA, France) based on the Madrid Principles proposed in 2007. Armenia gives great importance to the mediation of the Minsk Group co-chairs in the peace process as a practical format of negotiation process.

Armenia is confident that it is impossible to increase the productivity of the settlement process without the full participation of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic in the negotiations. The latter is a party of the conflict.