Azerbaijan, Baku, 14 November / Trend corr. B.Hasanov / Official Ankara wants to organize a meeting between leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Turkey, Turkish Premier Receb Tayyip Erdogan said at a news conference in the Colombian University, the Turkish media reported.
Speaking about the last meeting between the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Moscow, the Turkish Premier said that heads of these countries have taken considerable steps in direction of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
A meeting took place between Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan at Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev's initiative and resulted in signing the Moscow deceleration.
Presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan decided to make joint efforts to normalize the situation in Caucasus and requested Foreign Ministers to make efforts to solve Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The declaration calls for the settlement of the conflict in line with the principles and norms of international law and decisions and documents adopted in this respect which will create favorable conditions for economic development and comprehensive cooperation in the region.
Turkey, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, is prepared to assist in acceleration of realization of the UN resolutions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Turkey is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council since October.
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 correspondent can be contacted at: [email protected]