Azerbaijan, OSCE mull Karabakh conflict settlement (PHOTO)

Baku, Azerbaijan, March 5

By Sara Israfilbayova – Trend:

Azerbaijan and the OSCE discussed various important issues, including the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said.

Mammadyarov made the remarks at the press-conference in Baku following a meeting with OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia Miroslav Lajcak, Trend reports on March 5.

“Everyone wants the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to be resolved peacefully,” the minister added. "We are constantly conducting discussions to find the ways to resolve the conflict."

“President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met several times with the Armenian prime minister,” Mammadyarov stressed. “There were also four meetings at the ministerial level.”

The Azerbaijani foreign minister stressed that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs repeatedly stated that the status quo in the conflict is unacceptable.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

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