Presidents Of Armenia And Azerbaijan To Meet

Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov (pictured) met his Armenian counterpart, Vardan Oskanian, in London (file) (epa)

19 January 2006 (RFE/RL) -- High-level talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Nagorno-Karabakh have ended with an announcement of an upcoming meeting between the countries' presidents.

Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan and Armenia's Vardan Oskanian met this week in London.

Oskanian told RFE/RL's Armenian service that the two presidents will come together in France, probably sometime in early February.

"I also can now confirm that there will be a new meeting between the two presidents because that was also decided at this [London] meeting. And the French side has already handed invitations to both presidents."

Predominantly ethnic Armenian Karabakh seceded from Soviet Azerbaijan in 1988, triggering a war that claimed some 30,000 lives and drove more than 800,000 people from their homes. A truce was signed in 1994, but Armenia and Azerbaijan remain formally at war.

(RFE/RL's Armenian service)