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OSCE MG co-chairmen organizing meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents

Politics Materials 26 April 2016 18:22 (UTC +04:00)
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen are working to organize a meeting of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Pierre Andrieu, OSCE Minsk Group’s French co-chairman, told reporters April 26.
OSCE MG co-chairmen organizing meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents

Baku, Azerbaijan, April 26

Trend:

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen are working to organize a meeting of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, Pierre Andrieu, OSCE Minsk Group's French co-chairman, told reporters April 26.

"We met with President Aliyev and President Sargsyan some time ago," Andrieu said. "I think in the very near future we will try to organize a meeting of the presidents."

Andrieu said that the co-chairmen do not have any concrete plans about a visit to the region.

"The ceasefire should not be violated," Andrieu said. "The negotiations should start as soon as possible."

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

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 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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