Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan.19 / Trend E.Mehdiyev /
The forthcoming Sochi meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents under the Russian mediation is a positive moment, Deputy Executive Secretary of the New Azerbaijan Party (NAP), MP Mubariz Gurbanli said, the ruling party's official website reported.
"Despite everything the Nagorno-Karabakh problem is being settled through the negotiations," Mr Gurbanli said. "The Azerbaijani President unambiguously said during the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers that our country is committed to the negotiation process."
Even if the meetings do not give desired results, each of them somehow affects getting the both sides' positions closer in this and other issues.
At present, majority of political forces in Armenia except Dashnaktsutyun party in one form or another express consent over returning the occupied territories around Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenian government also knows that the return of adjoining territories is an important condition to promote the negotiations.
However, the positions differ in defining the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.
A trilateral meeting between Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian presidents - Ilham Aliyev, Dmitry Medvedev and Serzh Sargsyan is scheduled for Jan.23 in Sochi.
The current meeting will be tenth in succession, organized on Russian president's initiative since 2008.
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.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.