The Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan meeting held in Paris was a positive step, U.S co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick twitted Oct. 27.
“I think the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan agree the Paris summit was a positive step, thanks to President Hollande,” he said.
A meeting of Azerbaijani, Armenian presidents Ilham Aliyev, Serzh Sargsyan with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen was held in Paris Oct. 27, the Azerbaijani president’s official website reported. Then Presidents Aliyev and Sargsyan met.
Afterwards, a joint meeting of President Hollande, President Aliyev, President Sargsyan with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen was held.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four U.N. Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
During a visit to the South Caucasus region in May, French president reaffirmed the commitment of France as a co-chairing country of the Minsk Group to continue mediating to search for a peaceful solution to this conflict, twenty years after the ceasefire agreement entered into force.
/Trend/
