Azerbaijan, Baku, 2 June / corr. Trend S. Agayev/ Russia should call on Armenia to withdraw its forces from the Azerbaijani territory, Khazar Ibrahim, the spokesman of Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said to media on 2 June.
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier said that there is no military solution for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which began twenty years ago.
Commenting on the statement of Lavrov, Ibrahim called on Russia to send such a message to Armenia as well. As to the upcoming meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, to be held on 6 June in St Petersburg, the spokesman of the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said that Baku expects a constructive position from Yerevan; otherwise, Azerbaijan can refuse to hold talks.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992, Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. 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 the US) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.