BAKU, October 23. /TASS/. The situation around Nagorno-Karabakh was in focus of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov’s meeting with US Secretary of States Michael Pompeo, the press service of the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said on Friday.
"During his working visit to the United States, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on October 23. The sides discussed the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani minister informed his US counterpart about Armenia’s destructive policy, deliberate shelling of Azerbaijani civilian population, mass recruitment of foreign mercenaries and terrorists," it said.
Bayramov stressed that "Azerbaijan’s fair position is based on four United Nations Security Council resolutions and corresponding documents of other international organizations," the ministry said. "The sides also exchanged views on the Azerbaijani-US ties."
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States.