Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan met in Vienna’s Palais Coburg hotel for about two hours to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, the diplomat said.
The negotiations, mediated by the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, marked the first time the presidents have met in two years.
The Minsk Group, co-chaired by Russia, France and the United States, has been working – largely fruitlessly – since the early 1990s to resolve the territorial dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region that has ensnarled the governments of the two former Soviet nations and soured bilateral relations.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed hope Monday that the face-to-face meeting would help accelerate a peaceful resolution to the issue.
The Nagorno-Karabakh dispute flared up in 1988, when the region’s predominantly ethnic Armenian population began large-scale protests against Azerbaijani rule, seeking first to become part of Armenia and later declaring independence. A war ensued in the early 1990s, ending in 1994 with a shaky ceasefire that failed to resolve the conflict.
Azerbaijan insists on control over Nagorno-Karabakh to maintain its territorial integrity, while Armenia has been fighting for the interests of the still-unrecognized republic. Armenian armed forces have, since the war, occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and parts of several other regions of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territory.
.ria.ru
19/11/13
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Haut-Karabakh: un sommet Azerbaïdjan-Arménie s'est achevé à Vienne...
ReplyDeleteLes présidents d'Azerbaïdjan et d'Arménie, Ilham Aliev et Serge Sargsian, se sont rencontrés mardi à Vienne pour tenter de relancer les négociations sur la région disputée du Haut-Karabakh, mais ils ont quitté l'hôtel Palais Coburg sans donner de commentaires à la presse.
Les coprésidents du "Groupe de Minsk", médiateur pour l'Organisation pour la sécurité et la coopération en Europe (OSCE) qui comprend la Russie, les Etats-Unis et la France, ont également participé à cette rencontre, une première entre les deux dirigeants depuis janvier 2012.
Lundi, le ministre russe des Affaires étrangères Sergueï Lavrov a espéré que des contacts directs entre les chefs d'Etat d'Azerbaïdjan et d'Arménie pourraient contribuer au règlement négocié du problème du Haut-Karabakh qui oppose depuis des décennies Bakou et Erevan.
Le conflit du Haut-Karabakh remonte à février 1988, lorsque cette région autonome principalement peuplée d'Arméniens a annoncé son intention de se séparer de la république soviétique d'Azerbaïdjan. En septembre 1991, Stepanakert a annoncé la création de la République du Haut-Karabakh. Cette démarche a provoqué des hostilités entre les troupes arméniennes et azerbaïdjanaises à la suite desquelles Bakou a perdu le contrôle du Haut-Karabakh et de sept régions voisines. Le cessez-le-feu a été décrété le 12 mai 1994. Afin de trouver un règlement pacifique du conflit, un Groupe de Minsk coprésidé par la Russie, la France et les Etats-Unis a été créé en 1992 dans le cadre de l'OSCE.
http://fr.ria.ru/world/20131119/199823892.html
19/11/13
Azerbaijan on Wednesday said it had repelled a cross-border raid by Armenian forces in the latest outbreak of violence over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region...........
ReplyDelete"During the night an Armenian commando reconnaissance team tried to cross the line of contact in the southwestern sector of the frontline," Azerbaijan's defence ministry said in a statement.
"The attempt to cross the line of contact was prevented and the group was forced to retreat after sustaining casualties," the statement said.
On Monday, officials from the Armenian-backed breakaway republic said that one soldier from the separatist forces was killed during a thwarted cross-border attack by Azerbaijani forces.
Armenia-backed separatists seized Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan in a 1990s war that killed 30,000 people. Despite years of negotiations since a 1994 ceasefire, the two sides have still not signed a peace deal.
Azerbaijan has threatened to take back the disputed region by force if negotiations do not yield results, while Armenia has vowed to retaliate against any military action.
Around 20 soldiers from both the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides were reportedly killed last year.
http://www.france24.com/en/20140122-azerbaijan-says-repels-armenian-cross-border-raid/
22/1/14
Armenian troops fire on Azerbaijan, army captain killed .,...
ReplyDeleteAn Azerbaijan army captain has been killed after Armenian troops allegedly fired across the border of the Caucasus countries.
Elnur Ceferov, 36, succumbed to wounds he sustained after being shot at in the Terter border region, an Azerbaijan defense ministry statement said.
Ceferov was instantly decorated with a “third degree military service medal” by Azerbaijan defense minister Zakir Hasanov.
Since the countries fought a three-year long war between 1991 and 1993 over the sovereignty of the conflicted Nagorno-Karabakh region, soldiers on both sides have been killed by sporadic occasions of cross-border fire.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=127503
23/1/14