Minsk Group U.S. co-chair: Meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents was a good start

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.20 By S.Ahmedova - Trend: The meeting between Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan itself was a good start. The U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, James Warlick told Trend on November 20. "I was pleased with the outcome of the meeting, and look forward to developing next steps when we see the foreign ministers in Kyiv in early December," Warlick said. According to the US co-char, this meeting is only a first step toward getting this peace process back on track and addressing the needs and concerns of people affected by the conflict. It should be noted that President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met Armenian President Serj Sargsyan in Vienne as part of his working visit to Austria The Presidents discussed settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the THE OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.