ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN TO CONTINUE SEARCH FOR PEACE, FRANCE SAYS
Bloomberg
Oct 28 2014
By Sara Khojoyan Oct 28, 2014 4:34 PM GMT+0200
Armenia and Azerbaijan will continue high-level talks to settle the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, according to a statement issued after a
meeting hosted by President Francois Hollande in Paris.
President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and President Ilham Aliyev of
Azerbaijan plan to meet next September in New York, the statement by
the French presidency late Oct. 27 said.
"The absence of an alternative to the peaceful resolution of the
conflict was stressed" at the talks, according to the Armenian
presidential press service. Azerbaijan has not yet commented on
the meeting.
Negotiations were "constructive, useful and frank," Armenia's Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian told reporters in Paris after the meeting,
which was initiated by Hollande with participation of the OSCE's
Minsk Group co-chairs and the personal representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office.
Armenians took over Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts
from Azerbaijan in a war after the breakup of the Soviet Union in
1991. The South Caucasus countries, which border Turkey and Iran,
signed a cease-fire brokered by Russia in 1994 after more than 30,000
people were killed and at least 1.2 million were displaced.
Negotiations led by France, the U.S. and Russia as Minsk Group
co-chairs have yet to produce a final peace agreement.
Sargsyan and Aliyev last met in August in Sochi, on Russia's Black
Sea coast, for talks mediated by Russian President Vladimir Putin
after more than 20 troops were killed in the deadliest fighting in
two decades.
Azerbaijan, which signed $45 billion of contracts with a BP Plc-led
group in December to pipe natural gas to Europe from 2019, has
repeatedly threatened to use force to regain control of the territory
should peace efforts fail.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-28/armenia-and-azerbaijan-to-continue-search-for-peace-france-says.html
Bloomberg
Oct 28 2014
By Sara Khojoyan Oct 28, 2014 4:34 PM GMT+0200
Armenia and Azerbaijan will continue high-level talks to settle the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, according to a statement issued after a
meeting hosted by President Francois Hollande in Paris.
President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia and President Ilham Aliyev of
Azerbaijan plan to meet next September in New York, the statement by
the French presidency late Oct. 27 said.
"The absence of an alternative to the peaceful resolution of the
conflict was stressed" at the talks, according to the Armenian
presidential press service. Azerbaijan has not yet commented on
the meeting.
Negotiations were "constructive, useful and frank," Armenia's Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian told reporters in Paris after the meeting,
which was initiated by Hollande with participation of the OSCE's
Minsk Group co-chairs and the personal representative of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office.
Armenians took over Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts
from Azerbaijan in a war after the breakup of the Soviet Union in
1991. The South Caucasus countries, which border Turkey and Iran,
signed a cease-fire brokered by Russia in 1994 after more than 30,000
people were killed and at least 1.2 million were displaced.
Negotiations led by France, the U.S. and Russia as Minsk Group
co-chairs have yet to produce a final peace agreement.
Sargsyan and Aliyev last met in August in Sochi, on Russia's Black
Sea coast, for talks mediated by Russian President Vladimir Putin
after more than 20 troops were killed in the deadliest fighting in
two decades.
Azerbaijan, which signed $45 billion of contracts with a BP Plc-led
group in December to pipe natural gas to Europe from 2019, has
repeatedly threatened to use force to regain control of the territory
should peace efforts fail.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-28/armenia-and-azerbaijan-to-continue-search-for-peace-france-says.html