BAKU AND YEREVAN TO DISCUSS WAYS FOR RESOLUTION OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT

Trend News Agency
May 12 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 12 May / corr Trend News S.Agayeva / The Presidents
of Azerbaijan and Armenia will hold a meeting in June. The relevant
agreement was achieved during the talks between the foreign ministers
of the two countries in Strasbourg, within the framework of a meeting
of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers on 6 May, Elmar
Mammadyraov, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, told journalists on
12 May.

It will come as the first meeting of Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev with the new Armenian leader Serzh Sarkisian, who was elected
to this position in February.

"The meeting with the new Armenian authorities will clarify their
readiness for the peaceful settlement of conflict," the minister said.

During the forthcoming meeting, the heads of the conflicting countries
are expected to discuss the written proposals on Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, given to the Azerbaijan and Armenian foreign ministers
by the OSCE Minsk Group in Madrid on 29 November. The content of
proposals is not disclosed due to confidentiality of the principles.

So far the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have presented to conflict
sides three different proposals, two of which were not accepted by
Armenia. In its turn, Baku did not agree upon the mediators’; proposals
on the establishment of a confederative state with Nagorno-Karabakh.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress