Azerbaijan, Baku, June 7 / Trend S.Aliyev /
An agreement on peacekeeping forces to be deployed in Nagorno Karabakh has been reached.
According to the agreement, they will not be from co-chairing or regional countries, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told media.
He said the deployment has been included in the basic principles for the conflict settlement.
"The Nagorno Karabakh conflict must be resolved stage-by-stage and all stages are interrelated," he said. "The basic principles for the conflict settlement were determined at the G8 meeting in Canada. First of all, the Armenian troops must be withdrawn from the occupied territories. All communications and roads must be opened. Then, the earlier occupied territories must be restored. The internally displaced people must return to their native land. The peacekeeping forces must be deployed."
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent 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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.