Azerbaijani, Armenian FM’s discuss Karabakh conflict in Slovakia

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Azerbaijani Foreign Minster Elmar Mammadyarov has discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with his Armenian counterpart  Zohrab Mnatsakanyan at a meeting held in Bratislava, Slovakia on December 4.

The meeting that lasted for over three hours, was held on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial meeting in Bratislava with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

The sides discussed the current situation, as well as the ways of future peaceful settlement of the conflict. The ministers agreed to continue the negotiations and hold the next meeting at the beginning of 2020.

On the same day,  Mammadyarov met with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov (Russia), Andrew Schofer (the U.S.) and Stephane Visconti (France).

Earlier, Mammadyarov has said that substantive negotiations were needed on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, ahead of his meeting with Armenian FM.

The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh region began in February 1988 upon Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan. The authorities of Azerbaijan lost control over the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding seven regions during the subsequent military conflict.

More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

At present, the negotiation process is proceeding through the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group, established in 1992 to find

Since 1992, negotiations have been underway for a peaceful settlement of the conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. In 1993, the UN Security Council adopted four resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) on unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from Azerbaijan's territories.

To this day, Armenia has not implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions.

Azerbaijan does not consider the self-proclaimed illegal regime in Nagorno-Karabakh a party to the conflict and refuses to negotiate with it.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94 

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