Azerbaijan, Ganja, July 6 / Trend , V.Mammadov/
Official Baku expects progress in the Karabakh settlement in Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan's next meeting to be held in Moscow in mid-July, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told journalists on July 6.
"We hope to achieve certain progress in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict settlement in the Moscow meeting with the assistance of the Minsk Group, but it will also depend on the Armenian leadership," Mammadyarov told journalists in Ganja.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan intend to conduct next talks on Karabakh settlement in mid-July within traditional race for president of the Russian Federation.
The last, fifth meeting on conflict resolution between the two leaders was held in St. Petersburg on June 4. The previous meeting was held in Prague on May 7. The first meeting was held in St. Petersburg in June 2008 and second meeting in Moscow in late November 2008 and third was held in Zurich on Jan. 28, 2009.
To organize the two presidents' meeting, the Minsk Group co-chairs will visit the region. On July 10 they will arrive in Baku from Yerevan, where they will also discuss this matter with the Armenian leadership, the minister said.
Generally, the minister said there is some progress in the settlement of the conflict and in Moscow, the relevant work will continue on those issues that we were unable to agree at the presidents' previous St. Petersburg meeting.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Russia, France, and the U.S. - are currently holding the peace negotiations.
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