AZERBAIJANI FM HAILS ADOPTION OF UPDATED MADRID PRINCIPLES BY YEREVAN
Trend
March 19 2010
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov welcomed the adoption
of the updated version of the Madrid Principles by Yerevan.
The principles remain on the negotiations table, Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian said March 18.
"We continue to negotiate. The working suggestions that were offered
by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs were repeatedly proposed," he was
quoted as saying by Mediamax.
"This will create an opportunity to continue the negotiations process
and begin work on a large agreement on the settlement of the conflict,"
the minister told journalists at a news conference.
According to him, the Minsk Group co-chairs have not yet contacted him.
"We need to discuss further steps with the mediators," Mammadyarov
added.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994.
The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France and the United
States – are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and the
occupied territories.