Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Azerbaijan`s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has met with OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs Igor Popov , James Warlick and Pierre Andrieu, as well as Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk in Basel, Switzerland.

The sides discussed the negotiations on the settlement of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the plans and proposals of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs for the forthcoming year.

Reiterating the position of Azerbaijan with regard to the settlement of the conflict, Mammadyarov said Armenian armed forces must be first withdrawn from the occupied Azerbaijani territories for ensuring peaceful settlement of the conflict.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.