Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents end face-to-face meeting in Vienna on Karabakh conflict
19.11.2013,
16:44
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan - Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev – have ended their first face-to-face meeting in Vienna, Austria, over the last two years, to look into ways to revive the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.
YEREVAN, November 19. / ARKA /. The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan - Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev – have ended their first face-to-face meeting in Vienna, Austria, over the last two years, to look into ways to revive the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.
The president left the Palais Coburg, the venue of their meeting, without speaking to journalists, Novosti- Armenia reports with reference to RIA Novosti.
RIA Novosti said citing a source in the delegation of one of the countries as saying that the OSCE Minsk Group mediating the talks will come out with a statement.
The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh broke out in 1988 after the predominantly Armenian-populated region voted in 1991, December 10, to secede from Azerbaijan and in the process proclaimed the enclave the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Full-scale fighting, initiated by Azerbaijan, erupted in the late winter of 1992. International mediation by several groups including Europe's OSCE’s failed to bring an end resolution that both sides could work with.
In the spring of 1993, Armenian forces captured regions outside the enclave itself. By the end of 1994, the Armenians were in full control of most of the enclave and also held and currently control seven regions beyond the administrative borders of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Almost one million people on both sides have been displaced as a result of the conflict. A Russian- -brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994 and peace talks, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, have been held ever since by Armenia and Azerbaijan.-0-
