Agreement Between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Continuation of Ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh

Reports indicate that the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on Monday, May 16, to respect and continue the ceasefire in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region and to resume peace negotiations. According to AFP, in their first meeting after last month's intense clashes, Armenian President Serge Sarkisian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev reached an agreement regarding the resumption of peace talks in June. The members of the 'Minsk Group', composed of Russia, France, and the United States, had invited Aliyev and Sarkisian for face-to-face negotiations in Vienna to prevent the escalation of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Last month's clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region were among the most severe in two decades, resulting in at least 110 fatalities. Following the meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and French Minister for European Affairs Harlem Désir, a joint statement was issued on Monday. The statement emphasized that there is no military solution to this conflict. The statement, provided to reporters by representatives of the Minsk Group members, noted that the Presidents reaffirmed their commitment to the ceasefire and to resolving the dispute peacefully. The statement added that the Presidents agreed to hold the next round of negotiations in June at a mutually agreed location with the aim of discussing a comprehensive solution. According to the statement, the two countries also agreed to strengthen the monitoring mission of the ceasefire by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region escalated into war. In 1992, 20% of Azerbaijan's territory, including mountainous Karabakh and seven surrounding regions, was occupied by Armenian forces. The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994, but military clashes between the parties still result in dozens of casualties annually.