Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers have agreed to leave all the adversities behind, the Azerbaijani minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, said after a meeting of senior European policymakers and top foreign policy diplomats of the South Caucasus states in Brussels on Tuesday.
Mammadyarov told a press conference after the talks that during the meeting with his Armenian counterpart, the parties termed the long-standing conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh as a hurdle to the regional states` cooperation with the European Union.
Mammadyarov noted that the two ministers had also discussed peace talks under way with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group. He said efforts would be stepped up to reach peace in the turbulent region, further to the November declaration, signed by Presidents Ilham Aliyev, Serzh Sarkisian and Dmitry Medvedev following a Russia-brokered meeting, as well as Turkey`s proposal to establish a five-nation union called the Caucasus Peace and Cooperation Platform. "All these endeavors are paving the way for a more stable and tranquil South Caucasus," Mammadyarov said.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict for over a decade. Peace talks kicked off after a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but have brought little tangible result so far. Armenia continues to occupy Upper Garabagh and seven adjacent Azerbaijani districts in defiance of international law.