Azerbaijani, Armenian MPs to talk Karabakh settlement in Moscow
© RIA Novosti Ilya Pitalev
03:5922/10/2009
BAKU, October 22 (RIA Novosti) – Azerbaijani and Armenian
parliamentarians are set to discuss the Nagorny Karabakh conflict
settlement in the lower house of Russia’s parliament on Thursday,
Azerbaijan’s parliament said.
Five MPs from each side, as well as Azerbaijani and Armenian
ambassadors to Russia and Russian presidential representative on
international cultural cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoi, will take part in
the meeting in the State Duma.
Nagorny Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan with a largely Armenian
population, has been a source of conflict between the former Soviet
republics since the late 1980s. The mountainous province has its own
government and is de facto independent.
Turkey and Armenia signed on October 10 historic accords restoring
diplomatic relations and opening borders between the two
countries. Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in a show of
support for Muslim ally Azerbaijan, following the conflict over
Nagorny Karabakh between the two ex-Soviet republics.