Azernews.Az

YEREVAN – The OSCE Minsk Group brokering talks on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno Karabakh "is close to a success" and the recent statement of the US, Russian and French leaders is proof of that, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan has reportedly said.

Sargsyan was quoted by Armenia Today news website as saying that Yerevan agrees with the main points of the Deauville statement and is ready to put forward political will to facilitate a speedy settlement of the conflict.

"We believe that there is every objective ground for this," Sargsyan said. "It is also important that our Azerbaijani counterparts display political will too and be ready to sign an agreement forming the basis for further talks."

The statement by Presidents Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev, whose countries co-chair the Minsk Group, issued at the G8 summit on May 26, urged the two presidents to finalize the basic principles of a peace agreement during the Kazan summit on June 25.

The Karabakh conflict flared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia's territorial claims. Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno Karabakh, since the two countries signed a precarious cease-fire in 1994 following a lengthy war. The OSCE mediators have led negotiations on Karabakh settlement but little progress has been made so far.