John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, has called for an “ultimate resolution” of the two-decade long conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Kerry made the remarks during a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday in Washington DC, where world leaders were meeting for a security summit hosted by President Obama.
Kerry also paid tribute to Azerbaijan’s contributions to NATO’s ongoing operations in Afghanistan.
Since a ceasefire was signed in 1994 there has been sporadic fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces, with many casualties on both sides.
"We want to see an ultimate resolution of the frozen conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh that needs to be a negotiated settlement and something that has to be worked on over time," said Kerry.
"The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, all the conflicts in post-Soviet area and in the world, must be resolved based on territorial integrity of the countries.”
The two also discussed energy security as well as democracy and human rights, with Kerry welcoming recent progress but encouraging further reforms.
Source: commonspace.eu and agencies
