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OSCE MG preparing Azerbaijani, Armenian presidents’ meeting

18 August 2017 [14:00] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews


By Rashid Shirinov

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are working on preparing the next meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents, Spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said on August 17, TASS reports.

“Now, the co-chairs are working to prepare the next meeting on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. To this end, they held talks in Brussels with Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers in July of this year,” she said.

Zakharova added that consultations will continue on the sidelines of the regular session of the UN General Assembly in New York in the second half of September, following which a relevant statement will be made.

“We are doing everything possible to stabilize the situation and create conditions for the continuation of the negotiation process, aimed at reaching the settlement of the conflict,” she said.

Previously, the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair from the U.S. Richard Hoagland noted that the MG continues to encourage the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia to meet at the earliest possible opportunity and engage in good-faith negotiations.

In 2016, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan twice, first in Vienna in May, and the second time in St. Petersburg in June along with Russian President Vladimir Putin. No meeting has been organized this year.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign state with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.

Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/164186.html

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