Co-chairs of OSCE Minsk Group arrive in Nagorno-Karabakh

OSCE mediators will hold talks in Hankedi with the heads of the
breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, Mediamax reports.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group are expected to visit Yerevan
and Baku after their visit to Nagorno-Karabakh.

The main goal of the diplomats is preparation for a mid-July meeting
of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan within the
framework of the official summit of heads of foreign ministers of OSCE
countries in Kazakhstan. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will
try to convince Armenia to approve the Madrid principles discussed at
G8 summits in the USA and Canada.

Azerbaijani deputy foreign minister Araz Azimov said that the
declaration of the presidents of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on a
Nagorno-Karabakh settlement formulates the attitude of Minsk Group
countries towards the conflict.

Azimov said that Azerbaijan is ready to work if the communities of
both countries have the opportunity to live in the Nagorno-Karabakh
region, as well as opportunities for their cooperation and peaceful
work. He believes that taking into account the massive legal basis,
which includes a resolution by the UN SC, OSCE decisions, and the
Council of Europe and European Parliament, there is no need for
intermediate principles.

Azimov says that it is time to form the points of the project on a
peaceful settlement of the conflict, otherwise the process will be
protracted even more. He noted that Azerbaijan is interested in the
fastest development of the settlement agreement and its realization on
a legal basis.