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Iran is ready to make efforts in the Karabakh conflict settlement, Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak Ayeen told Azerbaijan’s Trend news agency in an interview.

Referring to the strained relationship between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan, the Iranian ambassador said: "The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been continuing for 20 years. Azerbaijan and Armenia have chosen the mechanism of the Minsk Group to resolve this conflict. They do not use other mechanisms. I think that the Minsk Group is biased in the conflict. For this reason, the efforts of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict failed. As the country chairing the Non-Aligned Movement, as well as an active member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Iran is ready to mediate in the conflict. Nagorno-Karabakh conflict occurs near the Iranian borders. Of course, the tension in the region worries us. If we can assist in resolving the conflict, we will not spare our efforts.”

We should mention that the fragment of Iranian ambassador’s interview which concerns Nagorno-Karabakh is not included in the video posted on Trend.

The modern phase of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) conflict broke out in 1988, when, as a response to the peaceful demand for self-determination of the people of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), annexed to Soviet Azerbaijan in 1921, the Azerbaijani authorities carried out ethnic cleansing of Armenians – at first in the big cities of Azerbaijan, and then in Artsakh.

In September 1991 Artsakh declared independence, and, as a result, Azerbaijan exacerbated the violences and started large-scale military actions against Artsakh. After number of defeats on the frontlines, in May 1994 Azerbaijan was forced ask for a cease-fire from the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic).

Currently, the negotiations on the settlement of the conflict are being conducted under the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs (Russia, USA and France), based on the Madrid proposals, presented in November 2007.