Baku, Azerbaijan, July 7

By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:

In order to achieve the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenia should have a more open position which we haven’t seen in recent times, Senator Andre Reichardt, Chairman of the France-Caucasus Friendship Group in the French Senate told Trend July 7.

Andre Reichardt is among the French parliamentarians, who have signed the appeal to France’s president over the July 4 shelling of the Alkhanly village in Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli district by the Armenian armed forces. In this appeal, they urged the French president to exert pressure on Armenia.

Reichardt noted that Armenia should fulfill the UN Security Council’s resolutions demanding the withdrawal of its forces from Azerbaijan’s occupied territories.

“The relations between Russia and Armenia are especially strong. Moreover, the direct collaboration of presidents of the two sides of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin would undoubtedly bring very important results for the conflict’s settlement,” said the senator.

He pointed out that Russia and other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group can contribute to achieving a progress in the settlement of this conflict.

It should be noted that on July 4 at about 20:40 (GMT+4 hours), the Armenian armed forces, using 82-mm and 120-mm mortars and grenade launchers, shelled the Alkhanly village of Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli district. As a result of this provocation, the residents of the village Sahiba Allahverdiyeva, 50, and Zahra Guliyeva, 2, were killed. Salminaz Guliyeva, 52, who got wounded, was taken to the hospital and was operated on.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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