RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, Czech Republic
Aug 24 2005

Armenian, Azerbaijani Ministers To Hold Karabakh Talks

Armenian Foreign Minister Oskanian (file photo)
(EPA)
24 August 2005 (RFE/RL) — The foreign ministers of Armenia and
Azerbaijan, Vardan Oskanian and Elmar Mamedyarov, are expected to
hold an official meeting today to discuss the dispute over the
separatist Nagorno-Karabakh territory.

The meeting is to be held in Moscow, where the two foreign ministers
on 23 August took part in a meeting of foreign ministers of the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

CIS leaders are due to meet starting on 26 August in the Volga River
city of Kazan.

The predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh pulled
away from Soviet Azerbaijan in 1988, triggering a war that killed an
estimated 35,000 people and drove tens of thousands of civilians from
their homes. Despite a 1994 cease-fire, Armenia and Azerbaijan remain
technically at war over the territory.