4TH ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI FORUM TO BE HELD IN JULY
E.Rustamov

Trend News
March 26, 2009
Azerbaijan, Baku

The fourth Armenian-Azerbaijani forum to support peaceful settlement
to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be held in July, Manager of the
International Alert projects for Eurasia region Dessislava Roussanova
told Trend News over phone from Vienna.

The concrete date and theme of the meeting will be determined shortly.

The third Armenian-Azerbaijani Forum titled, "Security: challenges
and opportunities, as well as mechanisms to establish trust" is being
held under the mediation of International Alert in Vienna on March
24-27. Participants of the forum are Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders
of civil society, experts and intellectuals from all sides in the
conflict. The forum is also attended by the OSCE Minsk Group Matthew
Bryza (U.S.), Bernard Fassier (France) and Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia).

"The topic of the new forum has not been determined. The idea of
the next meeting will be specified after the forum in Vienna,"
Roussanova said.

"The discussion was very constructive, the tone was extremely
positive. There are different views, and this is normal. There were
no principal differences," Roussanova added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan
lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December
1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7
districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed
a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia,
France, and the U.S. – are currently holding the peace negotiations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress