Azerbaijan, Baku, October 27 / Trend /
Meetings with foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan took place in a constructive spirit, says a joint statement of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, placed on the official website of the OSCE.
According to the statement, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Bernard Fassier (France) and Robert Bradtke (U.S.) met on Monday, October 26, with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian in Luxembourg, where they held a working session with each minister.
The sessions, which took place in a constructive spirit, assessed the current stage of the negotiations and considered, in particular, next steps in view of the December 1-2 OSCE Ministerial Council in Athens, says the statement.
The Co-Chairs will travel to the region in early November to meet the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan and continue to work with them on the basic principles for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
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.