Iranian MFA: Iran has always been in favor of Karabakh conflict resolution through dialogue
Iran has always been in favor of Karabakh conflict resolution through dialogue, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying by Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA.
Referring to a recent statement by former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaei that Iran provided Azerbaijan with weaponry during the Karabakh war, Mehmanparast said, in part, “We are on good terms with our neighboring countries, and so development of our relations with one neighbor does not restrict development of our relations with another.”
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.