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OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to visit region

13 August 2014 17:15 (UTC+04:00)
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to visit region

By Sara Rajabova

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will visit the South Caucasus region in the near future.

"The co-chairs intend to travel to the region in the near future, although no dates are set," U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick told local media.

He noted that the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents can build on their discussion in Sochi by meeting again in the fall to advance negotiations on a peaceful settlement.

"The co-chairs are ready to provide whatever assistance we can to make progress in these talks. Also, the people of Armenia and Azerbaijan need to recognize that continuing conflict is not in the interest of either country. I hope people will stand up and call for a peaceful settlement now," Warlick said.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met on August 10 to discuss different ways to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

This was the 12th meeting between the presidents held at the direct initiative of OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing countries. The Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents met last time in Vienna last November.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in the conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor.

Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. The negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.

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