Azernews.Az

MOSCOW – Russian-brokered talks between the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders due on Friday aim to play a landmark role in the settlement of the long-standing Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said.

"We expect Baku and Yerevan to respond constructively to the joint statement made in Deauville on May 26 by the presidents of the countries co-chairing the [mediating] OSCE Minsk Group –Russia, the United States and France – calling on the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia to show political will during the Kazan summit to complete discussion of the draft Basic Principles of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement," the ministry said on its website.

Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan will hold talks with their Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev’s mediation in the Russian city of Kazan. The ninth in a series of trilateral meetings on the Karabakh conflict will be held on the sidelines of the annual horse race named after the Russian president.

The Russian ministry said the document to be discussed in Kazan is the result of lengthy negotiations and joint effort of all parties and co-chairing countries, and is a sound foundation for further preparation of a comprehensive peace agreement.

"We hope that on the basis of this document, the parties will reach agreement for the sake of peace, prosperity and development throughout the region," the statement said.

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a regular news briefing there is currently a chance to achieve a solution of the Karabakh conflict and the parties should capitalize on it.

Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a brutal war which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno Karabakh, has been under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces since a ceasefire was signed in 1994. Peace talks are underway on the basis of the Madrid principles, a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs. The principles include the return of the territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; determining the final legal status of Nagorno Karabakh; a corridor linking Armenia to the region; and the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return to their homes.