USA HOPES MINSK GROUP WILL PRESERVE CURRENT FORMAT: AMBASSADOR
Trend News Agency
Sept 12 2008
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, Baku, 12 September / Тrend News corr. J.Babayeva/
The United States hopes that the OSCE Minsk Group will preserve the
current format, U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne Derse said to
journalists on 12 September.
"The United States will definitely keep on operating within the Minsk
Group. The United States supports peace settlement of the conflict,"
she said.
According to Ambassador, Minsk Group’s U.S. co-chair Matthew Bryza
is expected to pay a visit to the country in near future.
"As the United States said before, it is a convenient time to settle
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The conflict must be settled peacefully
and in conformity with the principles of territorial integrity of
Azerbaijan," Derse said.
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.
–Boundary_(ID_F+9zOMHzOOL FsCfcVqv9Lg)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
