SOONER OR LATER NAGORNO-KARABAKH POPULATION WILL ATTEND NEGOTIATION PROCESS: OSCE MG CO-CHAIRMAN
TREND News Agency
June 27 2008
Azerbaijan
"Participation of the Nagorno-Karabakh population in the negotiation
process may be realized after co-ordinating separate items in the
negotiations," the Russian Co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group,
Yuri Merzlyakov, told TrendNews on 27 June in Baku.
"Sooner or later the Nagorno-Karabakh population will attend the
negotiation process, but it will take place after the Presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan agree upon the base principles of agreement
within Madrid talks," Merzlyakov said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries appeared in 1988
due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenia has
occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani lands including the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and its seven surrounding districts. Since 1992 to the present
time, these territories have been under Armenian occupation. In 1994,
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a cease-fire agreement at which time
the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
( Russia, France and USA) are holding peaceful negotiations.