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OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will visit Azerbaijan next week and the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the Azerbaijani territories will be the main topic of discussions, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said on Sept.10.
He made the remarks during the joint press conference with Serbia’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic in Baku.
French President Francois Hollande has put forward a proposal to arrange a meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents. Currently, the date and program of the meeting are being fixed, according to the minister.
Mammadyarov emphasized the need to start discussions on the peace agreement to settle the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and pointed out the necessity of withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from Azerbaijan’s occupied territories.
He went on to add that it is expected to hold meetings with Minsk Group co-chairs, as well as with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian during the UN General Assembly session in New York.
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.
The two countries 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/az
