BAKU WILL NOT CONSIDER INCLUDING NAGORNO-KARABAKH IN NEGOTIATIONS PROCESS
Trend News Agency
Jan 18 2008
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, Baku, 18 January / Trend corr. J.Babayeva / Baku will
not consider including Nagorno-Karabakh in the negotiations process,
Khazar Ibrahim, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Press Secretary,
stated to Trend on 18 January.
"This issue has not been included in the document, which is on the
table of discussions," Ibrahim said.
OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs submitted written proposals to settle the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to the Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign
Ministries in December. Bernard Fassier, the France Co-chair OSCE
Minsk Group, mentioned the discussions held in Yerevan to include
Nagorno-Karabakh in the negotiations process.
Nizami Bahmanov, the head of the Azerbaijani community of
Nagorno-Karabakh, expressed his disagreement with the statement
concerning the inclusion of Nagorno-Karabakh to the negotiation
process.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988, due to the Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
Since 1992, the Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven neighbouring
districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire
agreement which ended the active hostilities. The Co-Chairs of the
OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding
the peaceful negotiations.