Azerbaijan, Baku, 10 Dec /corr Trend I.Sultanov / The meeting between the Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan, Elmar Mammadyarov, and Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic covered the question of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the Czech Republic, Tahir Tagizade, told Trend by telephone from Prague on 10 Dec. "Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic stated that his country supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and expressed hope that this conflict will be solved peacefully," said the Ambassador.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries appeared in 1988 due to Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenia has occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani lands including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding districts. Since 1992 to the present time, these territories have been under Armenian occupation. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a cease-fire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France and USA) are holding peaceful negotiations.
The Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan is on an official visit to Prague.
Tagizade also said that during the talks, the Foreign Ministers discussed a wide spectrum of questions. The Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Czech Republic touched upon such questions as security in South Caucasus, chairmanship of the Czech Republic to the European Union and prospects for the development of bilateral relations.
Tagizade stated that during the meeting a decision was made to establish a working group on co-operation between the Parliaments of the two countries.