Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend E.Huseynov / The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement intend to hold consultations in Vienna. The meeting will take place in the near future, stated the Russian Foreign Ministry's Group on the Nagorno-Karabakh from Moscow by telephone on 11 july.
The Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuri Merzlyakov, is currently in France and, together with the Minsk Group's French co-chair will hold consultations with the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Vardan Oskanyan. Later, the Russian diplomat intends to leave for Vienna from Paris, the same source stated. The exact date of the Vienna meeting was not mentioned.
Conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus broke out in 1988 due to the territorial claims of Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has occupied 20% of Azerbaijan 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 active hostilities ended. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France and USA) hold peaceful negotiations.
The Head of Office for Public Affairs of the US Embassy in Azerbaijan, Jonathan Henick, confirmed the Vienna meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group's Co-chairs. According to him, the American co-chair of the Minsk Group, Matthew Bryza, also intends to attend the meeting. Henick did not name the exact date of the upcoming meeting, but said that it will take place in the near future.
Last time, the OSCE Minsk Group's co-chairs officially held consultations with the OSCE Chairman-in-
Office, Spanish Foreign Minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, in Madrid at the beginning of May and later visited the conflict region twice. A final meeting between the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia took place in June in St Petersburg.