AZERBAIJANI, ARMENIAN FMS CONTRIBUTED TO BASIC PRINCIPLES AT HELSINKI MEETING: OSCE MG CO-CHAIR

Trend
Dec 6 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 6 Dec / Trend News corr. E.Tariverdiyeva/ In
Helsinki, Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers dramatically
contributed to improvement of Basic Principles, OSCE Minsk Group’s
U.S. Co-chair Matthew Bryza said to Trend News on 6 Dec.

Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers met in Helsinki on 4
Dec during the annual meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council with
participation of the Foreign Ministers of OSCE MG co-chairing countries
– Russia, United States and France, and MG intermediaries.

"The discussions in Helsinki between the foreign ministers of Armenia
and Azerbaijan made a meaningful contribution toward improving and the
Basic Principles and sustaining the momentum of recent constructive
meetings between the presidents," said Bryza.

Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian Presidents signed a declaration
at the end of their meeting in Moscow on 2 November. The Presidents
confirmed their adherence to peace settlement within the Minsk Group
on the basis of Madrid Proposals.

According to Bryza, the discussers did not make any amendments or
other formal changes to the Basic Principles.

"But instead we continued our work to bring together each side’s
philosophical approach," he said.

The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. 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 countries keep on peace negotiating. OSCE
Minsk Group co-chaired by USA, Russia, and France is engaged in peace
settling of the conflict.