Azerbaijani, Armenian FMs to hold another meeting

By Azernews

By Akbar Mammadov

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov discussed the current situation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on May 18, the ministry reported in a press release.

During the online meeting, the sides have agreed to work on determining the date and time of the next meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia with the mediation of the Minsk Group co-chairs after the softening of the outbreak, the press release reads. 

However, the date of the meeting is not given.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, Igor Popov (Russia), Stéphane Visconti (France), Andrew Schofer (USA), the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chair-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk and the assistants of the co-chairs of France and the United States have also participated in the video-conference.

In addition, the sides also held discussions on the steps to be taken during the upcoming months, in the post-pandemic period.

Earlier, with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers, Elmar Mammadyarov and Zohrab Mnatsakanyan discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict according to the joint statement adopted in Geneva in a video-conference held on April 21.

It should be noted that this year the first meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the Personal Representative Andrzej Kasprzyk took place in Geneva on 28- 30 January.

Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region, which along with seven adjacent regions was occupied by Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and around one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France has been mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Group’s efforts have resulted in no progress and to this date, Armenia has failed to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) that demand the withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.