Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

OSCE mediators will visit the region in the last week of March to discuss the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to Azerbaijan's AzerTac state news agency, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group -- Igor Popov of Russia, Jacques Faure of France, and Ian Kelly of the United States -- will also visit the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The co-chairmen say that they will discuss the steps towards the settlement of the conflict with the presidents of the two countries.

The mediators issued a statement after the latest meeting of the co-chairs and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on March 2 and with Armenia's Edward Nalbandian on March 3 over the peace process.

During the meeting with the Minsk Group mediators Mammadyarov voiced concern over the current situation with the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. He emphasized the importance of withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan for advancing the peace process, restoration of peace and stability in the whole region, and noted that Armenia's non-constructive position hinders the conflict resolution.

The co-chairs, in turn, repeated their concerns regarding the issue of civilian flights to Nagorno-Karabakh and the recent violence on the contact line between the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops. They also discussed ideas to strengthen the 1994 ceasefire.

Earlier, Armenian media reported about the intended commissioning of the Khojaly airport in Nagorno-Karabakh in the near future.

Commissioning of the airport is an open violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation adopted on December 7, 1944 in Chicago, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said earlier.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and European Civil Aviation Conference support Azerbaijan's position on the issue. Document No.121 on airports of the ICAO cited the Khojaly airport as property of Azerbaijan.

International flights from the Khojaly airport, constructed in 1978, were prohibited after the occupation of territories by Armenia. The Khojaly airport, which has been registered in international organizations with the name UB13, is a facility with military purposes.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a brutal war in the early 1990s that concluded with the signing of a fragile cease-fire. Since the war, the Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. Peace talks brokered by the Minsk Group have been mostly fruitless so far.