The Republic of Artsakh reaffirms its commitment to the obligations undertaken under the agreements on the full cessation of fire and military operations. At the same time, the Artsakh authorities will continue to take all necessary measures to strengthen the country’s security, and are prepared to prevent any attempt by Azerbaijan to launch a new attack against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Artsakh. This was stated in the statement of the Artsakh MFA, dedicated to the 26th anniversary of the signing of the trilateral document on reaffirming the commitments to maintain the ceasefire.
“26 years ago, on 26-27 July 1994, the Republic of Artsakh, Azerbaijan and Armenia, with the mediation of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, signed a document in which the parties firmly reaffirmed their determination to continue to fulfill their commitments to maintain the ceasefire and to enshrine the indefinite nature of the agreement on the ‘Full Cessation of Fire and Military Operations’ of 12 May 1994.
This trilateral document, as well as the agreements of 12 May 1994 and of 6 February 1995 on strengthening the ceasefire, created the necessary conditions for reaching a settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict through negotiations and to this day serve as the basis of the peace process. As important components not only of the settlement of the Azerbaijani-Karabakh conflict, but also of the process of ensuring regional security in the South Caucasus in general, the aforementioned agreements are the best proof of the effectiveness of the trilateral negotiation format, within the framework of which their achievement became possible.
Unfortunately, from time to time we witness attempts by the Azerbaijani side to renounce its own commitments to maintaining peace in the region and to reserve for itself the right to unleash war, as well as to disrupt the operation of the aforementioned agreements, which lie at the basis of the peaceful settlement process. However, such attempts have always met with a sharply negative response from the international community.
In 2016, in response to the situation created as a result of Azerbaijan’s unleashing of a new war against Artsakh and the attempts of official Baku to declare null and void the agreement on the Full Cessation of Fire and Military Operations of 12 May 1994, the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group — Russia, the USA, France — as well as the UN Secretary-General, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe called for strict adherence to the commitments to maintain the ceasefire, thereby recognizing the binding nature of the aforementioned agreements of 1994-1995.
In view of Azerbaijan’s direct armed attack on 12 July on the Tavush region section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and the subsequent deliberate aggravation of the situation, the need for the international community to take practical measures to ensure the irreversibility of the peace process and to exclude the possibility of the resumption of military operations becomes more relevant.
The Republic of Artsakh reaffirms its commitment to the obligations undertaken under the agreements on the full cessation of fire and military operations. At the same time, the Artsakh authorities will continue to take all necessary measures to strengthen the country’s security, and are prepared to prevent any attempt by Azerbaijan to launch a new attack against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic of Artsakh,” the statement said.
