Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. E.Huseynov / The Co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group will visit the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict region on 14 September. The co-chairmen's visit will be completed by 19 September, The Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh of the Russian Foreign Ministry reported by telephone from Moscow on 13 September.
The co-chairmen's visit will begin from Yerevan. The delegation is planning to travel to Nagorno-Karabakh on 16 September and return to Baku on 18 September.
The delegation includes all the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk.
The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988 due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
The co-chairmen intend to discuss the draft of proposals concerning the peaceful solution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh within the framework of their visit. Elmar Mammadyarov, the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, said if Armenia agrees with the discussed documents it may positively affect negotiations.
Earlier Vardan Oskanan, the head of Armenian Foreign Policy Department, described the discussed document as correct, saying that the document reflected all the necessary issues. The Armenian Foreign Minister stated that the proposals may positively reflect the settlement of the conflict.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Minister said that previously Armenia did not agree with proposals of the Minsk Group's co-chairmen, which was made before the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents in St.Petersburg. "Once the Armenian Foreign Minister has stated that they agree with the discussed document this means Armenia has changed its policy," Elmar Mammadyarov said.