Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend A.Gasimova / The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Miguel Angel Moratinos, intends to discuss the process of peaceful regulation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the region of the South Caucasus. The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, will visit Azerbaijan and Yerevan on 4-5 June, Spanish Foreign Ministry's representative for Caucasus, Gudman Palassio, informed on 1 June.
In 2007 Spain chairs the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. According to Palassio, as Moratinos is OSCE Chairman-in-Office, he decided to visit Azerbaijan and Armenia and therefore, 90% of the negotiations will take place within OSCE and 10% within bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Spain.
Moratinos will arrive in Baku in the evening of 4 June and held talks with Azerbaijan's President, Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov. In the morning of 5 June, Moratinos will meet with the Head of the Azerbaijani Community of Nagorno-Karabakh, Nazim Bahmanov and representatives of the political parties of Azerbaijan. After the meetings, Moratinos will leave for Yerevan to hold meetings with Armenia's President, Robert Kocharyan, Prime Minister, Serj Sarksyan, Foreign Minister, Vardan Oskanyan, as well as with the "President" of the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Arkady Kukasyan and other representatives of Armenian political parties.
Moratinos will return to Madrid in the evening of 5 June.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus appeared in 1988 due to the territorial claims of Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani lands including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven districts of the country surrounding it. From 1992 to the present time, these territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a cease-fire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France and USA) are holding peaceful negotiations.