Azernews.Az

Russia is actively involved in the OSCE Minsk Group mediating settlement to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the last joint statement issued after Monday’s meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders brokered by the Russian president is the result of the efforts of all MG co-chairs, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich has said.

"We hope that the acceleration of talks will lead to the desired results - the clarification of positions and the adoption of basic principles that will clear the way for a more complex document, a legally binding peace agreement," Lukashevich was quoted by Russia 24 TV channel as saying on Thursday.

Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan and Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev held the tenth trilateral meeting in the Russian city of Sochi. In the joint statement, the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents voiced their readiness to accelerate reaching agreement on basic principles of the Karabakh conflict settlement. Presidents Aliyev and Sargsyan appreciated the mediation of Russia and other countries co-chairing the Minsk Group - France and the U.S. They also confirmed that one of the confidence-building measures in the context of the Nagorno Karabakh settlement is the development of humanitarian contacts between the parties. In this regard, the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents pledged to promote further dialogue among intellectuals, scholars and the public, the statement said.

Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a brutal war in the early 1990s that displaced up to a million Azerbaijanis. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno Karabakh, has been under the occupation of Armenian armed forces since the 1994 ceasefire.

Peace talks are underway on the basis of the Basic 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 to return home.

This story is published by AzerNEWS Weekly under a project funded by the Foundation for State Assistance to the Development of the Media under the President of the Azerbaijan Republic.