The United States urges the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to return to the negotiating table for a comprehensive peace agreement, US ambassador to Azerbaijan Robert Cekuta told reporters in Baku May 11.

The US and other countries are concerned over the current situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, the ambassador said, noting that there is no military solution to the conflict.

Cekuta stressed that the Minsk Group co-chairing countries are making every effort to involve the parties in negotiations towards a comprehensive peace agreement.

The ambassador called on the parties to abide by the ceasefire regime and begin working on a comprehensive peace agreement.

He added that both US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick and State Secretary John Kerry continue their efforts to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.