FOCUS News Agency – Sofia, Bulgaria
21 October 2008
Medvedev announces Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict talks
Yerevan. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday he hoped to host
talks between his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts to resolve a
simmering conflict over the Nagorny Karabakh region, AFP reported.
"I hope that in the near future a meeting between the three presidents will
take place to find a solution to the problem" of the disputed territory,
Medvedev said at a news conference with Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian
on a visit to Yerevan. "I hope it will take place in Russia."
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at daggers drawn since Armenian separatists
took control of the disputed territory, which lies inside Azerbaijan, in a
war in the early 1990s.
Soldiers from the two sides in the conflict regularly exchange fire,
contributing to instability in the volatile Caucasus region, where a war
took place in August between Georgia and Russia.
Sarkisian said Armenia was ready for talks on the basis of principles worked
out at international negotiations in Madrid last year, which he said meant
the people of Nagorny Karabakh have the right to self-determination.