Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Two senior U.S. diplomats are expected to join effort to deal with a settlement to the long-standing Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The newly appointed U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, James Warlick, jointly with the new U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE, Daniel Baer, will make joint efforts on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution, Warlick wrote on his Twitter page.

Warlick wished success to Baer, who took an oath as U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE on September 10.

Warlick discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier in Vienna on September 16.

He is also scheduled to meet with the Russian and French co-chairs soon in New York on the sidelines of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly.

Recently, the US mediator paid his first visit to the South Caucasus region to meet with the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and also traveled to Nagorno-Karabakh.

He discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh problem with Azerbaijani and Armenian officials and called for joint efforts of Azerbaijan, Armenia and the regional states over resolution of the conflict.

The diplomat also said it was time for all sides involved to work together on the basis of the Helsinki Final Act.

Warlick was appointed the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair in August.

In December, Robert Bradtke completed his term as the US Minsk Group co-chair. Ian Kelly had been named the US co-chair on an interim basis on December 21, 2012, pending the appointment of a new permanent co-chair.

The U.S., along with Russia and France, has long been working to broker a solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through the Minsk Group, but their efforts have been largely fruitless so far.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.