Azerbaijan, Baku, June 23 / Trend , U.Sadikhova/
"Azerbaijan would like to reach an agreement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict by late 2009, but it does not depend only on us," Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told journalists on June 23.
The next negotiations of the Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and Edvard Nalbandyan on the Karabakh settlement will take place in Paris on June 26.
"We will continue the work launched by the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents in St. Petersburg. The two presidents have commissioned us on this issue," the minister said.
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.
The previous meeting between the two foreign ministers was held as a part of the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan in St. Petersburg on June 4.
This was fifth meeting on conflict resolution between the two leaders. The previous meeting was held in Prague on June 7. The first meeting was held in St. Petersburg in June 2008 and second meeting in Moscow in late November 2008 and third was held in Zurich on Jan. 28, 2009.