Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec 19 /Trend S. Aghaeva/
Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan may meet to negotiate a peaceful settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at the beginning of 2012, the French co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group Bernard Fassier said at the final press conference at the conclusion of his work as co-chair.
Fassier noted that, the mediators and the head of the co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group called for the meeting at the Council of foreign ministers in Vilnius.
"We urge the parties to continue negotiations in order to achieve results," Fassier noted.
The presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia - Ilham Aliyev, Dmitry Medvedev and Serzh Sargsyan discussed the basic principles of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on June 24 in Kazan. Kazan meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia on the Nagorno-Karabakh, the ninth in the last three years, ended without agreement on basic principles. The sides noted the progress toward the goal in the joint statement.
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 7 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 the 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.