ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN IN TALKS ON KARABAKH DISPUTE: REPORT
Agence France Presse
November 22, 2009 Sunday 5:27 PM GMT
France
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart Serzh
Sarkisian met in Germany on Sunday for sensitive talks on the disputed
Nagorny Karabakh region, state media reported.
Azerbaijani state news agency Azertaj reported that the two had met
at the French consulate in the German city of Munich.
"The meeting focused on the current state and prospects of the talks
to solve the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorny
Karabakh," the agency reported.
It said the meeting was also attended by the two countries’ foreign
ministers and the French, Russian and US co-chairs of the Minsk Group,
which is mediating peace talks under the auspices of the Organization
for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
The French foreign ministry, which announced the meeting last week,
said earlier that it was to be the sixth meeting between the two
presidents this year for talks on the dispute.
Backed by Yerevan, ethnic Armenian forces seized control of Nagorny
Karabakh and seven surrounding districts from Azerbaijan in the early
1990s, in a war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives.
The two former Soviet republics have cut direct economic and transport
links and failed to negotiate a settlement on the region’s status.
Armenian and Azerbaijani forces are spread across a ceasefire line in
and around Nagorny Karabakh, often facing each other at close range,
and shootings are common.
Analysts say the Karabakh peace talks have been given a new impetus by
historic efforts at reconciliation between Armenia and Azerbaijan’s
close ally Turkey, who have signed accords to establish diplomatic
relations and open their border after decades of hostility.