Azernews.Az

YEREVAN – The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Karabakh are due to arrive in Armenia on Wednesday as part of their assessment mission in the conflict zone, Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian has said.

The mission, which will include UNDP and UNHCR experts, will scrutinize the illegal settlements in Nagorno Karabakh and other Armenia-occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

Nalbandian was quoted by Novosti Armenii news agency as saying that the mission allegedly has no bearing on the draft resolution on the situation in the occupied Azerbaijani territories Baku has recently submitted to the United Nations General Assembly.

"On September 6 the co-chairs issued a statement saying that conducting the mission was agreed this spring, while Azerbaijan submitted the draft resolution in July."

The document was to be tabled at the UN GA in September. However, Baku later withdrew the draft resolution from the assembly. Azerbaijani Ambassador at the UN Agshin Mehdiyev explained the move by "the field assessment mission" to the occupied Azerbaijani territories planned by the Minsk Group co-chairs, which he said would support Baku's position on the Karabakh conflict.

The Armenian foreign minister said the assessment mission will be carried out by the Minsk Group co-chairs but will also include one or two UN experts.

Nalbandian recalled that two of the co-chairs have recently been re-appointed, adding that the mission will study the overall situation in the region.

The proposed resolution, which was strongly opposed by Armenia, upheld the right of Azerbaijanis expelled from Nagorno Karabakh and other occupied districts to return to their homes. It also urged the OSCE to scrutinize the conflicting parties' compliance with "international humanitarian law" on the ground.

Armenia and Azerbaijan waged a war in the early 1990s, which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about one million Azerbaijanis. Armenia has been occupying over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory since then. Peace talks have largely accomplished no result so far.