Azerbaijan, Armenian FMs meet over Karabakh in Paris

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - Top diplomats of Azerbaijan and Armenia are meeting in Paris, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a tweet on Wednesday.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Armenian acting Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan are expected to discuss the negotiation process on the resolution of the Upper Karabakh conflict.

The meeting is being mediated by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group co-chairs Igor Popov of Russia, Stephane Visconti of France and Andrew Schofer of the U.S., the ministry earlier said in a statement.

Andrzej Kasprzyk, the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman in Office, is also attending the meeting.

Karabakh – a disputed territory between Azerbaijan and Armenia – broke away from Azerbaijan in 1991 with military support from neighboring Armenia, and a peace process has yet to be implemented.

Three UN Security Council resolutions (853, 874 and 884) and UN General Assembly resolutions 19/13 and 57/298 refer to Karabakh as being part of Azerbaijan.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe refers to the region as being occupied by Armenian forces.

The Armenian occupation of Upper Karabakh led to the closing of the frontier with Turkey, which sides with Baku in the drawn-out dispute.

Political ties between Ankara and Yerevan remain frozen owing to the Karabakh conflict as well as the legacy of killings during the First World War, which the Armenian diaspora and government describe as “genocide” – a description which Turkey refutes.