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Baku backs France’s proposal to hold meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh in Hamburg

29 November 2016 17:05 (UTC+04:00)
Baku backs France’s proposal to hold meeting on Nagorno-Karabakh in Hamburg

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan doesn’t expect any significant changes in the process of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from the replacement of the French, the U.S. co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (MG).

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov announced about this while talking to reporters in Baku on November 29.

He further said that Baku supports France’s proposal to hold an expected meeting on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Hamburg in the 3+2 format (foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Armenia and OSCE MG co-chairs).

James Warlick of the U.S. earlier said he will step down as the OSCE MG co-chair on December 31. France also stated that Stéphane Visconti will take the position of its OSCE MG co-chair soon.

The new French co-chair of the OSCE MG is quite an experienced diplomat, Azerbaijani foreign minister said, adding that they had already met during his visit to Paris.

Mammadyarov noted that the new French co-chair of the OSCE MG is well informed about the process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s settlement.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the 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.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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