The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group released a statement on the results of meeting with the Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers in New York, AzVision.az reports citing the official website of OSCE.

The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States of America, and Pierre Andrieu of France, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, met separately with the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in New York on the margins of the UN General Assembly to continue discussions on a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“During the meetings, we paid special attention to implementation of decisions taken at the recent summits in Vienna (May 2016) and St. Petersburg (June 2016). In particular, we discussed further steps that could create an atmosphere for advancing substantial negotiations that could lead to a settlement", .

We also exchanged views on proposals that could be discussed between the sides.

Our governments are prepared to host another meeting of the Presidents or Foreign Ministers at the appropriate time.

"We plan to visit the region in the near future.”

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 OSCE 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, 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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