Date for next ministerial for Karabakh talks scheduled

The next round of talks to find a peaceful solution to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will take place on January 18. “The meeting of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Andrew Schofer (the U.S.), Stephane Visconti (France), Igor Popov (Russia) and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will take place in Krakow, Poland,” the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry informed on January 16.

Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk will attend the meetings.

The previous meeting of Elmar Mammadyarov with the Minsk Group co-chairs and his Armenian counterpart was held in Vienna on December 6, 2017. During the meeting, the sides held intensive and concrete discussions on the existing proposals in connection with the settlement of the NagornoKarabakh conflict.

After the meeting in Vienna, the Azerbaijani FM called it positive and constructive. The coming meeting in Krakow is expected to contribute to the resolution of the protracted conflict.

Armenia captured NagornoKarabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

Unfortunately, peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. within the OSCE Minsk Group have produced no tangible results so far due to Armenia's unconstructive position on the issue.