Nagorno-Karabakh Talks Expected In London
January 18, 2006
PRAGUE, 18 January 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia are expected to meet today in London for talks related to efforts to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between their countries, RFE/RL's Azerbaijan Service reported.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry told RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service that foreign ministers Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan and Vardan Oskanian of Armenia will discuss, among other issues, preparations for a possible February summit between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The London talks are also expected to be attended by representatives of the OSCE Minsk Group -- co-chaired by France, Russia, and the United States -- which has been mediating efforts for a peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict.
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.
(with material from apa, day.az)