Armenia, Azerbaijan affirm cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh

Presidents Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan reaffirmed on Monday their commitment to a ceasefire and a peaceful solution in the disputed territory of NagornoKarabakh, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a statement.

Aliyev and Sargsyan met at the OSCE’s Vienna headquarters with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and French State Secretary for European Affairs Harlem Desir, representing the three countries that lead the Minsk Group.

In the wake of the flareup of fighting last month that left some 150 people dead, the two presidents agreed to expedite the implementation of an OSCE mechanism to investigate incidents in NagornoKarabakh.

Sargsyan and Aliyev likewise resolved to meet again next month with the intent of resuming negotiations on a comprehensive settlement, the OSCE said.

The leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia “reiterated that there can be no military solution to the conflict,” according to the statement.

Earlier Monday in Yerevan, Armenia’s parliament declined to consider a bill that would recognize the independence of the ethnic Armenian selfproclaimed Republic of NagornoKarabakh.

The conflict in NagornoKarabakh goes back to the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the region’s Armenian population sought unification with Armenia, leading to a 19911994 war that claimed more than 25,000 lives.

Armenian troops and their local allies now occupy the entire enclave and seven adjacent districts and have created a “security buffer” that represents just over a fifth of Azerbaijani territory.