The discussion is underway on the possibility of holding a 3+2 format meeting (three co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group and Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers) on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the framework of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Hamburg on Dec. 8-9, said Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry.
“If the meeting is agreed, additional information will be provided. We are currently discussing the possibility of holding such a meeting”, Zakharova told a briefing on Wednesday, APA’s Moscow correspondent reported.
Earlier, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said that Baku supports France’s proposal to hold the expected 3+2 format meeting on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in Hamburg.
Moscow never gives up on holding such meetings, Zakharova said, adding. “If the meeting is agreed, we will take part in it and will do everything possible so that it can be held in a constructive and effective manner.
“Everyone has their own schedule and agenda. If the meeting takes place, it should be held in full. Experts are dealing with the matter,” the spokesperson continued.
With regard to a possible meeting between Azerbaijani and Russian foreign ministers in Hamburg, Zakharova said that there is no information about such a meeting.
“However, as you know, numerous meetings take place as part of such a large forum. If necessary and if time allows such a meeting is also not ruled out,” she added.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.
A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian armed forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts (Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.
The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.
Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in Dec.1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.
Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.
Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.
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