Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 27 / Trend , E.Tariverdiyeva / On Feb. 27 in Baku, the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group suggested the Azerbaijani side their ideas on how to remove disagreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia in settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and this was not a formal suggestion, American co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Matthew Bryza, told Trend on Feb. 27
"We discussed what approach can be used to resolve key disagreements between the sides," Bryza said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7 districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
He said that the talks in Baku were constructive, the co-chairmen heard the approach of the Azerbaijani side towards the ways of settling the conflict. "In addition, in a constructive manner, we discussed the statement of the co-chairmen made on Feb. 13," Bryza said.
On Feb. 13, the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group made a joint statement in which they consider non-use of forces as one of the key elements for fair and durable settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The co-chairmen stated that they do not see military solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
According to Bryza, the co-chairmen stated that it is very important to maintain constructive mood between the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev and Armenia, Serj Sarkisyan. "We stated that there is only peaceful solution of the conflict," said Bryza.
According to him, only after the co-chairmen present their ideas and suggestions to Sarkisyan in Yerevan on Mar. 2, it will be possible to speak of the next meeting of the Presidents.
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