Azerbaijan and Armenia have different approaches to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
“Although certain progress has been achieved, the latest talks between Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents in Zurich exposed that the parties still have different approaches to the settlement of the conflict”, head of the International Relations Department of the AR Presidential Office, Novruz Mammadov told Trend News on February 4.
The meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian concerning the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict took place in Zurich, Switzerland, on January 28.
The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasia started in 1988 over territorial claims raised by Armenia against Azerbaijan. 20 percent of the Azerbaijan territory – Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts are under the occupation of Armenian Armed Forces. In 1994, the parties signed the ceasefire agreement and hold fruitless peace negotiations through the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group – Russia, France, and the USA till today.
According to Mammadov, the conclusions of the meeting proved that the negotiation process should be continued as this is very important for the conflict solution. Head of the Department believes that it is too early to speak of any serious progress in the conflict solution.
US co-chair to the OSCE Minsk Group, Matthew Bryza stated to Trend News from Zurich commenting on the conclusion of the leaders’ meeting that Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents came to an agreement on several key principles.
“The Presidents’ meeting was positive and constructive, they moved forward in several key issues and the divergence of opinions over some issues was reduced”, Bryza stressed.
Trend
