Karabakh Talks Continue In Paris

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov with his Armenian counterpart, Vartan Oskanian (file photo) (RFE/RL) PARIS, October 24, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammedyarov in Paris today for talks on the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The ministers discussed some key principles for settling the conflict proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group, cochaired by Russia, France, and the United States.

Oskanian described the meeting as "constructive."

The two ministers last held talks in Moscow on October 6.

The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

Click on the image to view an enlarged map of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone

In February 1988, the local assembly in Stepanakert, the local capital of the Azerbaijani region of NAGORNO-KARABAKH, passed a resolution calling for unification of the predominantly ethnic-Armenian region with Armenia. There were reports of violence against local Azeris, followed by attacks against Armenians in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait. In 1991-92, Azerbaijani forces launched an offensive against separatist forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, but the Armenians counterattacked and by 1993-94 had seized almost all of the region, as well as vast areas around it. About 600,000 Azeris were displaced and as many as 25,000 people were killed before a Russian-brokered cease-fire was imposed in May 1994.

CHRONOLOGY: For an annotated timeline of the fighting around Nagorno-Karabakh in 1988-94 and the long search for a permanent settlement to the conflict, click here.

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