By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will pay a visit to Armenia and Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is under the Armenian occupation, in early June.

This was said at a joint press conference of Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier in Yerevan on May 30.

The co-chairs will travel to Yerevan and then Khankendi [the occupied Azerbaijani territory] during the visit, which is expected to take place in approximately ten days, news.am reports.

Asked about possible meeting between Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers and presidents, Nalbandian said the issue of the meeting between foreign ministers will be probably discussed during the co-chairs’ visit if there is a proposal. 

During the regional visit, the co-chairs will also come to Baku.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

Peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. within the OSCE Minsk Group have produced no results so far.