Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.15
By Seba Agayeva - Trend:
Azerbaijan would wish that every meeting on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was effective in order for this process to move ahead, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said Oct.15.
He made the remarks at a briefing, commenting on the upcoming meeting of presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia.
He said that Azerbaijan is ready to work on a large peace agreement.
Mammadyarov said that there was a range of proposals for the establishment of working groups between the structures to resolve the issues of withdrawal of troops, return of refugees, on transport, infrastructure.
"Azerbaijan is ready to begin such negotiations at the expert level," the minister said. "We expect a response from the Armenian side."
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, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four U.N. Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.