Tentative date of next meeting with Armenian FM announced

The tentative date of the next meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers have been announced.

“The [OSCE Minsk Group] cochairs will announce the date of the meeting. There is an agreement to hold the meeting in mid-January next year,” Azerbaijani FM Elmar Mammadyarov said at a joint press conference in Baku on December 20 after meeting with his Iranian and Turkish counterparts.

The minister said the meeting will take place in one of the European countries.

The last meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian FM was held in Vienna on December 6. During the meeting, the sides held intensive and concrete discussions on the existing proposals in connection with the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“We exchanged views in Vienna. The co-chairs will evaluate the discussions and make a decision. I even said I agree to negotiate two days – the main thing is to have a result,” Mammadyarov added.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities.

While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign state with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years.

Until now, Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region.