Baku has agreed to the OSCE Minsk Group’s proposal to organise a meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told journalists on Thursday. “Next month, the OSCE Minsk Group mediators will arrive in the region,” Mammadyarov said. “There were no new proposals during the recent visit to the region, except for the proposal of holding a meeting of foreign ministers,” he said.
“Baku gave a positive response to this proposal,” he said.
Commenting on the journalists’ questions about the resolution of the U.S state of Maine with an appeal to the U.S. President and the Congress about the recognition of independence of the Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh occupied by Armenia, the minister said that this shows the efforts of the Armenian lobby and their desire to show their importance.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven 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 peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
/Trend/
