Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 17
Trend:
The Minister of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan Colonel General Zakir Hasanov met with the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Popov (Russia), Andrew Schofer (US), Stephane Visconti (France) and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk on Oct. 17, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the latest situation on the line of contact of the troops and the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border, in particular in the Gazakh direction of the front, as well as the prospects of negotiations on the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
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, 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 Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.