Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev agreed to continue their efforts to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Turkish daily Milliyet reported.
Gul told journalists that he thanked Russia for promoting Azerbaijani-Armenian negotiations. Ankara and Moscow will continue their efforts to resolve the conflict.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan lost all of Nagorno-Karabakh except for Shusha and Khojali in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian armed forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and 7 districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.