BAKU, Azerbaijan, Oct. 11
By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:
Armenia set conditions for ensuring its security during the negotiations, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said.
Bayramov made the statement during a briefing held on Oct.10, Trend reports.
“We refuted the conditions, noting that these issues could be resolved after the withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azerbaijani territories,” he noted.
According to him, before the meeting in Moscow, a meeting was held with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group in Geneva.
"It became clear to everyone once again that Azerbaijan won’t accept the status quo. During the operations carried out over the past 10 days, it was changed,” he added.
Foreign Ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia adopted a joint document following consultations in Moscow on Oct. 10.
The text of the document said that in response to the appeal of Russian President Vladimir Putin and in accordance with the agreements of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the parties agreed on the following steps:
"1. A ceasefire is declared from 12:00 on October 10, 2020 for humanitarian purposes for the exchange of prisoners of war and other detained persons and bodies of the dead, mediated and in accordance with the criteria of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
2. The specific parameters of the ceasefire regime will be agreed upon additionally.
3. The Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia, with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, on the basis of the basic principles of settlement, are starting substantive negotiations with the aim of reaching a peaceful settlement as soon as possible.
4. The parties confirm the invariability of the format of the negotiation process".
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, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.