Serzh Sargsyan to pay official visit to Moscow on January 18
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and First Lady Rita Sargsyan will visit Moscow at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Medvedev.
In Moscow, presidential dialogue will focus on strategic partnership issues between the states and regional problems, RA President's spokesman Samvel Farmanyan stated.
Commenting on the forthcoming meeting between Armenian and Azeri Presidents, Samvel Farmanyan stated that Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan trilateral presidential meeting will probably take place during the visit.
"Russia in its capacity of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair for Karabakh conflict settlement is taking serious efforts towards resolution of the issue. Two trilateral meetings have already taken place through the mediation of Russia," presidential spokesman said.
According to Samvel Farmanyan, both bilateral and trilateral meetings are possible until final settlement of Karabakh conflict.
Sergey Farmanyn denied reports of revised Madrid principleshaving been presented to official Yerevan.
The Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) is a de facto independent republic located in the South Caucasus, bordering by Azerbaijan to the north and east, Iran to the south, and Armenia to the west.
After the Soviet Union established control over the area, in 1923 it formed the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) within the Azerbaijan SSR. In the final years of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan launched an ethnic cleansing which resulted in the Karabakh War that was fought from 1991 to 1994.
Since the ceasefire in 1994, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control of Nagorno Karabakh defense army.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have since been holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group.
The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, now Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)) to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
The Helsinki Additional Meeting of the CSCE Council on 24 March 1992, requested the Chairman-in-Office to convene as soon as possible a conference on Nagorno Karabakh under the auspices of the CSCE to provide an ongoing forum for negotiations towards a peaceful settlement of the crisis on the basis of the principles, commitments and provisions of the CSCE. The Conference is to take place in Minsk. Although it has not to this date been possible to hold the conference, the so-called Minsk Group spearheads the OSCE effort to find a political solution to this conflict.
On 6 December 1994, the Budapest Summit decided to establish a co-chairmanship for the process.
Implementing the Budapest decision, the Chairman-in-Office issued on 23 March 1995, the mandate for the Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Process.
The main objectives of the Minsk Process are as follows: Providing an appropriate framework for conflict resolution in the way of assuring the negotiation process supported by the Minsk Group; Obtaining conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the cessation of the armed conflict in order to permit the convening of the Minsk Conference; Promoting the peace process by deploying OSCE multinational peacekeeping forces.
The Minsk Process can be considered to be successfully concluded if the objectives referred to above are fully met.
The Minsk Group is headed by a Co-Chairmanship consisting of France, Russia and the United States. Furthermore, the Minsk Group also includes the following participating States: Belarus, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Turkey as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan. Current Co-chairmen of the Minsk Group are: Ambassador Bernard Fassier of France, Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov of the Russian Federation and Ambassador Robert Bradtke of the United States.
Madrid principles were adopted at November 2007's OSCE summit in Madrid. The documents contain OSCE MG suggestions for Karabakh conflict settlement. Details of the documents remain classified.
In Moscow, presidential dialogue will focus on strategic partnership issues between the states and regional problems, RA President's spokesman Samvel Farmanyan stated.
Commenting on the forthcoming meeting between Armenian and Azeri Presidents, Samvel Farmanyan stated that Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan trilateral presidential meeting will probably take place during the visit.
"Russia in its capacity of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair for Karabakh conflict settlement is taking serious efforts towards resolution of the issue. Two trilateral meetings have already taken place through the mediation of Russia," presidential spokesman said.
According to Samvel Farmanyan, both bilateral and trilateral meetings are possible until final settlement of Karabakh conflict.
Sergey Farmanyn denied reports of revised Madrid principleshaving been presented to official Yerevan.
The Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) is a de facto independent republic located in the South Caucasus, bordering by Azerbaijan to the north and east, Iran to the south, and Armenia to the west.
After the Soviet Union established control over the area, in 1923 it formed the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) within the Azerbaijan SSR. In the final years of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan launched an ethnic cleansing which resulted in the Karabakh War that was fought from 1991 to 1994.
Since the ceasefire in 1994, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control of Nagorno Karabakh defense army.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have since been holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group.
The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, now Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)) to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
The Helsinki Additional Meeting of the CSCE Council on 24 March 1992, requested the Chairman-in-Office to convene as soon as possible a conference on Nagorno Karabakh under the auspices of the CSCE to provide an ongoing forum for negotiations towards a peaceful settlement of the crisis on the basis of the principles, commitments and provisions of the CSCE. The Conference is to take place in Minsk. Although it has not to this date been possible to hold the conference, the so-called Minsk Group spearheads the OSCE effort to find a political solution to this conflict.
On 6 December 1994, the Budapest Summit decided to establish a co-chairmanship for the process.
Implementing the Budapest decision, the Chairman-in-Office issued on 23 March 1995, the mandate for the Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Process.
The main objectives of the Minsk Process are as follows: Providing an appropriate framework for conflict resolution in the way of assuring the negotiation process supported by the Minsk Group; Obtaining conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the cessation of the armed conflict in order to permit the convening of the Minsk Conference; Promoting the peace process by deploying OSCE multinational peacekeeping forces.
The Minsk Process can be considered to be successfully concluded if the objectives referred to above are fully met.
The Minsk Group is headed by a Co-Chairmanship consisting of France, Russia and the United States. Furthermore, the Minsk Group also includes the following participating States: Belarus, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Turkey as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan. Current Co-chairmen of the Minsk Group are: Ambassador Bernard Fassier of France, Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov of the Russian Federation and Ambassador Robert Bradtke of the United States.
Madrid principles were adopted at November 2007's OSCE summit in Madrid. The documents contain OSCE MG suggestions for Karabakh conflict settlement. Details of the documents remain classified.
