ANKARA WANTS TO ORGANIZE MEETING BETWEEN PRESIDENTS OF AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA

Trend News Agency
Nov 14 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 14 November / TrendNews corr. B.Hasanov / Official
Ankara wants to organize a meeting between leaders of Azerbaijan and
Armenia in Turkey, Turkish Premier Receb Tayyip Erdogan said at a news
conference in the Colombian University, the Turkish media reported.

Speaking about the last meeting between the Presidents of Azerbaijan
and Armenia in Moscow, the Turkish Premier said that heads of these
countries have taken considerable steps in direction of settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

A meeting took place between Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia
Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan at Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev’s
initiative and resulted in signing the Moscow deceleration.

Presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan decided to make joint
efforts to normalize the situation in Caucasus and requested Foreign
Ministers to make efforts to solve Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The
declaration calls for the settlement of the conflict in line with the
principles and norms of international law and decisions and documents
adopted in this respect which will create favorable conditions for
economic development and comprehensive cooperation in the region.

Turkey, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, is
prepared to assist in acceleration of realization of the UN resolutions
on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Turkey is a non-permanent member
of the UN Security Council since October.

The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988
due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has
occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these
territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. 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 USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.