Azerbaijan, Baku, 4 Dec/ Trend corr E. Tanriverdiyeva/ Foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia plan to continue talks on the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Helsinki today.
The talks between the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia Elmar Mammadyarov and Edward Nalbandyan attended by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs began in the capital city of Finland within the frames of the meeting of the Council of OSCE Foreign Ministers.
Armenia has occupied 20% of Azerbaijan's territory - Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. The occupation began in 1988. Azerbaijan lost the Nagorno-Karabakh, except of Shusha and Khojali, in December 1991. In 1992-93, Armenian Armed Forces occupied Shusha, Khojali and Nagorno-Karabakh's seven surrounding regions. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding peaceful, but fruitless negotiations.
"Subject of yesterday's meeting was re-examining Basic Principles of the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh and once they are ready, we will begin to negotiate formally," Matthew Bryza, U.S. co-chair of the Minsk Group, told Trend by telephone from Helsinki.
It has been negotiated to prepare next meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents, Bryza said. "We hope that leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia will meet in a couple of weeks," diplomat said.
Last time Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers met in early Nov within the trilateral meeting of Presidents Ilham Aliyev, Dmitri Medvedev and Serzh Sarkisyan in Moscow which ended with Moscow Declaration.
The leaders of each country emphasize different elements of the Basic Principles. "The President of Armenia emphasizes the concept of self-determination. The President of Azerbaijan emphasizes the concept of territorial integrity. Our job as mediators is to help both sides negotiate an agreement that takes all of these concepts into account in a mutually agreed way," he said.
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