Ambassador: EU wants to launch new ideas to promote quicker settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict

Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.8 / Trend E.Mehdiyev / The European Union would like as a request of parties to launch new ideas in order to promote quicker settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan, Ambassador Roland Kobia told journalists on Wednesday. "We of course support all objectives of the Minsk Group and we would like also as a request of parties to launch new ideas in order to promote quicker settlement of the conflict," he said. According to Kobia, these ideas are still being tested with the government of Azerbaijan and with the government of Armenia, and they will be disclosed soon. "But first, we would like to have concrete development of these ideas. But it is really to try to enhance people-to-people contact and to generate confidence between the parties," he added. Kobia said the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Philippe Lefort visited Azerbaijan yesterday and had meetings with the President, with the foreign minister, with the minister of justice, minister of internal security and other actors. "The main topics of the meetings were the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno Karabakh conflict," he said. According to Kobia, as the EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton confirmed when she came to Azerbaijan a few months ago, the EU wants to have more active role in helping the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijan Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az