RUSSIA NOT PLANS TO RECOGNIZE INDEPENDENCE OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH: OSCE MG RUSSIAN CO-CHAIR
Today.Az
cs/52127.html
May 7 2009
Azerbaijan
Russia does not plan to recognize independence of the Nagorno-Karabakh
as an independent region, OSCE Minsk Group Russian Co-Chair Yuriy
Merzlyakov said after the meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian
presidents in Prague on May 7.
"It is not excluded that the presidents of mediator-countries will
participate in the next round of peace negotiations," Merzlyakov said.
The Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents who were invited the EU
"Eastern Partnership" summit in Prague on May 7 met at the US Embassy
and discussed settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Today’s high-level meeting was the fourth one between Azerbaijani and
Armenian Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan on the Karabakh
settlement. The previous meeting took place in Zurich on Jan. 28 in
2009. The first meeting was held in St Petersburg in June 2008 and
second – in Moscow in late November 2008.
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 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan
and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the U.S. – are currently
holding the peace negotiations.