Azernews.Az

By Gunay Hasanova

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will pay a working visit to France on November 17, a source told Trend on November 16.

Mammadyarov is now on an official visit to Portugal.

During the Paris visit, Mammadyarov will meet with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault and discuss prospects of developing bilateral cooperation, according to the source.

The settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be considered separately during the negotiations, the source said.

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 the resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of the due attention of the international community for years.

By ignoring four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, as well as appropriate documents adopted by The European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Non-Aligned Movement, Armenia intends to preserve the status quo in the region and freezes the needed settlement of the conflict.

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Gunay Hasanova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @gunhasanova

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