End occupation in Upper Karabakh, reiterates Turkey

By Gokhan Varan

ANKARA (AA) - The Turkish foreign minister on Thursday discussed with his Russian counterpart the ongoing Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, a diplomatic source said.

In a phone, Mevlut Cavusoglu told Sergei Lavrov that a cease-fire has no meaning without a permanent solution -- end of Armenian occupation -- to the Upper Karabakh dispute, the insider said.

Even if the fighting stops today, clashes will resume again, the source quoted the foreign minister as saying.

Relations between the two former Soviet nations have been volatile since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Upper Karabakh, an internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan.

Fresh border attacks by Armenia on Sunday escalated the longstanding tensions.

World powers, including the US, Russia, France and Germany, have urged for an immediate halt to clashes along the frontier.

Turkey, meanwhile, has voiced support for Azerbaijan, and its right to self-defense.

Four UN Security Council and two UN General Assembly resolutions, as well as many international organizations, demand the withdrawal of the occupying forces.

The OSCE Minsk Group -- co-chaired by France, Russia, and the US -- was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but to no avail. A cease-fire, however, was agreed upon in 1994.