"ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI NEGOTIATIONS BASED ON LONG-TERM EFFORTS OF BOTH SIDES" – ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTER
Trend News Agency
Aug 2 2008
Azerbaijan
Russia, Moscow, 2 August / Trend News corr. R.Agayev / The
Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations to regulate the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict are based on the long-term efforts of both sides rather than
on the proposals made by the mediators in Madrid, Edward Nalbandyan,
Armenian Foreign Minister, said.
"The matter does not concern the Madrid proposals. If the matter
concerned Madrid proposals we would not meet today," Nalbandyan
said in the briefing answering to the questions of Trend News and
commenting the recent meeting with the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister
Elmar Mammadyarov.
The proposals made by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs in Madrid
in November 2007, lay on the negotiations table. The Armenian and
Azerbaijani Presidents proposed both foreign ministers to continue
discussions within the framework of the proposals. "These proposals
are the results of long-term efforts through co-chairs’ assistance. We
have been working over these proposals," the Armenian Minister said.
The Madrid proposals, according to Mammadyarov, mean a complex of
issues gathered in Prague several years ago. As a result of the Prague
process we came to a conclusion to solve the issues stage by stage.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began
in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including
the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which
time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk
Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful
negotiations.