Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Direct dialogue between Baku and Yerevan should not be "a goal in itself", Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Mammadguliyev said during a working visit to Armenia, Armenian media reported on September 13.

Mammadguliyev is attending informal dialog being held within the Eastern Partnership.

"There was dialogue but now it is suspended. As for direct dialogue, it all depends on how the preparations for it will be made. There should be serious preparations, serious issues. It should not be a meeting just for the sake of meeting. There should be discussions with some decisions. It is up to the presidents," the deputy minister said.

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Peace talks, mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. through the OSCE Minsk Group, are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and dubbed the Madrid Principles. However, the negotiations have been largely fruitless so far.

A precarious ceasefire, reached after a lengthy war that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis, has been in place between the two South Caucasus countries since 1994. Since the hostilities, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but they have not been enforced to this day.