Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

OSCE mediators brokering settlement to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh will visit the region in late November, in advance of the OSCE ministerial meeting in Dublin the following month, the OSCE website said.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will discuss during the visit their ideas how to reach progress in the resolution of the long-lasting conflict and make the peace process move forward, Trend news agency quoted US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Richard Morningstar as saying on Tuesday.

"The Minsk Group has always been active, but it was particularly active over the past few weeks," Morningstar said. "So, we will see what happens and hopefully progress will be made."

The Minsk Group, established in 1992 and co-chaired by France, Russia and the United States, has been working to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which emerged in 1988 and boiled into a brutal war in the early 1990s. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994. Peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.

The Minsk Group co-chairs presented annual reports ahead of their visit to the region. The co-chairs outlined their activities over the last year during individual and joint meetings with the sides and trips to the region, as well as bilateral engagement by each of the co-chair countries and a trilateral meeting of the Russian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani presidents in the Russian city of Sochi in January.

They discussed their role in preventing tension on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops and avoiding escalation when violence has occurred, in particular through the work of Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, and his team in the region.

In addition to their presentation at the OSCE Permanent Council, the co-chairs convened a meeting of the Minsk Group. They also met with the Ukrainian and Swiss delegations in their capacity as future chairmanships of the OSCE.

In early fall, the Minsk Group co-chairs -- Jacques Faure of France, Robert Bradtke of the United States and Igor Popov of Russia -- met with the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers to discuss the situation on the Line of Contact in light of frequent ceasefire violations.

Meanwhile, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan started his official visit to France on Monday, Russian state news agency ITAR-TASS reported.

Sargsyan discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement with President Francois Hollande.

Hollande said after the meeting that the Minsk Group co-chairmen will make every effort to resume the negotiations over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Protest to Armenian president

The Azerbaijani and Turkish diaspora organizations held a joint protest outside the Armenian embassy in France on Monday, organized by the World Azerbaijani Youth Association.

About 1,500 representatives of the Azerbaijani and Turkish communities participated in the protest.

The protest, which was joined by Azerbaijani diaspora organizations operating in Europe, aimed at protesting the France visit of Sargsyan, who was one of the organizers of the Khojaly genocide perpetrated against Azerbaijani civilians during the Karabakh war and was closely involved in the Armenian invasion of Azerbaijani land.

The Azerbaijanis who were killed during the Karabakh war were commemorated during the picket.

The protesters voiced slogans calling on the world to fairly assess the Karabakh conflict, as well as analyze the threat of Armenia's policy of aggression posed to peace and security in the volatile region.

The protesters stressed that Sargsyan must answer before a court of law as one of the organizers of the Khojaly genocide.

The protesters included representatives from the World Azerbaijanis Congress, the European Azerbaijanis Congress, Azerbaijan House in France, Azerbaijan-France Youth Association, Switherland-Azerbijan Friendship Society, Azerbaijanis Society of Spain, etc.

613 people, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 elderly, were killed during the massacre in Khojaly, committed by Armenian forces on February 25-26, 1992. A total of 1,000 civilians were disabled. Eight families were annihilated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 lost both. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 remains unknown.