Nagorno Karabakh Republic coat of arms

STEPANEKERT–The Foreign Ministry of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on Tuesday issued a statement in which it accused Azebaijan of unilaterally denouncing the 1994 cease-fire agreement.

Below is the English-translated text of the statement provided by the Artsakh Foreign Ministry.

Following the large-scale aggression against the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from April 2-5 this year, the Azerbaijani authorities continue their efforts to bring the peaceful settlement process of the conflict to a final breakdown and transfer it into a military domain. Azerbaijan’s attempts to unilaterally denounce the tripartite agreement on the ceasefire of May 12, 1994 at the UN and the OSCE come to prove this. Along with that, the Azerbaijani side resorts to its traditional practice of fraud and manipulation, trying to lay the blame on the Armenian side, and thereby avoid liability for unleashing a war.

In this regard, we consider it necessary to remind the international community that the agreement of May 12, 1994, concluded between the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Azerbaijan and Armenia for an indefinite term is the only real achievement in the settlement process of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict. Thanks to this very agreement, the foundations for peaceful negotiations were laid and conditions for the activity of mediators in finding a fair and final solution to the conflict was created.

Sharing the point of view of the OSCE Minsk Group that this agreement, as well as the agreement of February 1995, form the basis of the cease-fire and its strengthening, we believe it is extremely important to consolidate the position of the international community and the mediator-states to take effective and urgent measures in forcing Azerbaijan to comply with the commitments taken within the framework of these agreements.

Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemns any attempts of the Azerbaijani authorities to unleash a new war, and for them to reconsider these agreements, insisting on the full restoration of the ceasefire regime established in May 1994.

To guarantee the security of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and its population, as well as to promote peace and stability in the region, Karabakh authorities will take diplomatic and other possible measures to safeguard the full implementation of the agreements from 1994 and 1995, as well as to exclude the possibility of development of the situation by the criminal scenario hatched by the Azerbaijani leadership.