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Azerbaijan, Armenia FMs Discuss Nagorno-Karabakh Settlement
Armenian Foreign minister Edward Nalbandian
© AFP/ Petras Malukas03:33 28/10/2012BAKU, October 28 (RIA Novosti)
Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and
Edward Nalbandian and other officials have met in Paris to discuss the
conflict over breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry said.
`The sides expressed concern over the situation around the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Consultations and discussions of how to
address the standstill in the conflict settlement were held,' the
ministry said in a statement.
Nagorno-Karabakh, the predominantly Armenian-populated region, claimed
independence from Azerbaijan in the late 1980s, triggering a bloody
conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan which left more than 30,000
people dead on both sides between 1988 and 1994. The region has since
remained under Armenian control. The OSCE Minsk Group, comprising the
United States, Russia and France, mediates the conflict.
The meeting, which took place on Saturday, also involved co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group - ambassadors Robert Bradtke of the United
States, Russia's Igor Popov, France's Jacques Faure, and the personal
representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-office, Ambassador Andrzej
Kasprzyk.
The sides also discussed the Minsk Group co-chairs' planned visit to
the region in the second half of November.
Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been further aggravated
by the extradition and subsequent pardoning of Azerbaijani serviceman
Ramil Safarov, who killed an Armenian serviceman eight years ago.
Safarov had been serving a life sentence with a possibility of parole
only after 25 years for killing an Armenian soldier during a NATO
training event in Hungary's capital Budapest in 2004. He attacked
Gurgen Margaryan with an ax as the Armenian slept, striking him an
alleged 16 times.
In August, Hungary extradited Safarov to Azerbaijan, where he was
pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev, greeted as a national hero and
promoted to the rank of major. Hungary said it had agreed to return
Safarov to Azerbaijan after receiving assurances that his sentence
would be enforced.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said earlier in September he hopes
tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the pardoned killer would
not affect the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.
Armenian Foreign minister Edward Nalbandian
© AFP/ Petras Malukas03:33 28/10/2012BAKU, October 28 (RIA Novosti)
Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and
Edward Nalbandian and other officials have met in Paris to discuss the
conflict over breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry said.
`The sides expressed concern over the situation around the
Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. Consultations and discussions of how to
address the standstill in the conflict settlement were held,' the
ministry said in a statement.
Nagorno-Karabakh, the predominantly Armenian-populated region, claimed
independence from Azerbaijan in the late 1980s, triggering a bloody
conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan which left more than 30,000
people dead on both sides between 1988 and 1994. The region has since
remained under Armenian control. The OSCE Minsk Group, comprising the
United States, Russia and France, mediates the conflict.
The meeting, which took place on Saturday, also involved co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group - ambassadors Robert Bradtke of the United
States, Russia's Igor Popov, France's Jacques Faure, and the personal
representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-office, Ambassador Andrzej
Kasprzyk.
The sides also discussed the Minsk Group co-chairs' planned visit to
the region in the second half of November.
Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been further aggravated
by the extradition and subsequent pardoning of Azerbaijani serviceman
Ramil Safarov, who killed an Armenian serviceman eight years ago.
Safarov had been serving a life sentence with a possibility of parole
only after 25 years for killing an Armenian soldier during a NATO
training event in Hungary's capital Budapest in 2004. He attacked
Gurgen Margaryan with an ax as the Armenian slept, striking him an
alleged 16 times.
In August, Hungary extradited Safarov to Azerbaijan, where he was
pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev, greeted as a national hero and
promoted to the rank of major. Hungary said it had agreed to return
Safarov to Azerbaijan after receiving assurances that his sentence
would be enforced.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said earlier in September he hopes
tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the pardoned killer would
not affect the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.