Trend News Agency, Azerbaijan
Dec 4 2008
Azerbaijan, Armenia’s Foreign Ministers Plan to Continue Talks in Helsinki
04.12.08 12:31
Azerbaijan, Baku, 4 Dec/ Trend News corr E. Tanriverdiyeva/ Foreign
ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia plan to continue talks on the
resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Helsinki today.
The talks between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia
Elmar Mammadyarov and Edward Nalbandyan attended by the OSCE Minsk
Group Co-Chairs began in the capital city of Finland within the frames
of the meeting of the Council of OSCE Foreign Ministers.
Armenia has occupied 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory ` Nagorno-Karabakh
and seven surrounding regions. The occupation began in
1988. Azerbaijan lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and
Khojali, in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied
Shusha, Khojali and Nagorno-Karabakh’s seven surrounding regions. 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, but
fruitless negotiations.
`Subject of yesterday’s meeting was re-examining Basic Principles of
the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh and once they are ready, we
will begin to negotiate formally,’ Matthew Bryza, U.S. co-chair of the
Minsk Group, told Trend News by telephone from Helsinki.
It has been negotiated to prepare next meeting of Azerbaijani and
Armenian presidents, Bryza said. `We hope that leaders of Azerbaijan
and Armenia will meet in a couple of weeks,’ diplomat said.
Last time Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers met in early Nov
within the trilateral meeting of Presidents Ilham Aliyev, Dmitri
Medvedev and Serzh Sarkisyan in Moscow which ended with Moscow
Declaration.
The leaders of each country emphasize different elements of the Basic
Principles. `The President of Armenia emphasizes the concept of
self-determination. The President of Azerbaijan emphasizes the concept
of territorial integrity. Our job as mediators is to help both sides
negotiate an agreement that takes all of these concepts into account
in a mutually agreed way,’ he said.