OSCE MINSK GROUP ON NAGORNY KARABAKH RESUMES WORK

BAKU/YEREVAN, April 16 (RIA Novosti) – Elmar Mamedyarov, Azerbaijan’s
foreign minister, and Vardan Oskanyan, Armenia’s foreign minister,
well meet within the framework of the Minsk Group of the OSCE
(Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) on Nagorny
Karabakh in Prague on Friday, April 16.

This is the first time the Armenian foreign minister will meet his
recently appointed Azerbaijani counterpart.

Moreover, Mr. Mamedyarov and Mr. Oskanyan’s meeting in Prague within
the framework of OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorny Karabakh will be held
after more than a year long interval.

The work of the Minsk Group on settlement of the Azerbaijani-Armenian
conflict over Nagorny Karabakh (an enclave with the predominantly
Armenian population in Azerbaijan) was officially suspended in
connection with the presidential and parliamentarian elections in
Armenia last year (February-March) and the presidential elections in
Azerbaijan last October.

The upcoming meeting was originally scheduled to be held in Prague on
March 29, however it was postponed because of an official request from
Baku.

The meeting was organized through the mediation of the Russian,
American, and French co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorny
Karabakh. Yury Merzlyakov, the Russian co-chairman of OSCE Minsk
Group, told to the Baku-based ATV TV channel that the Prague meeting
would essentially be “consultations of the heads of the foreign
ministries of Armenia and Azerbaijan with the co-chairmen of the Minsk
Group.”

The press service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported that
the meeting will be held for information purposes in connection with
the appointment of Azerbaijan’s new foreign minister and the upcoming
replacement of the American co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group.

This opinion is shared by the Armenian Foreign Ministry, whose
information and press department said that the meeting of the two
countries’ foreign ministers would be held within the framework of the
consultations organized by the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Gourp on
the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress