Moscow, Oct 29, IRNA – The negotiations about the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan started on Thursday between Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Russia's ِDeputy Foreign Minister for Central Asia and Caucasus Andrei Rudenko in Moscow.
Araghchi had told IRNA earlier on Thursday that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), otherwise known as Minsk Group, has been unable to solve the border dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the past three decades
Araghchi said at Moscow Airport that extra-regional members of Minsk Group (i.e. the US and France) are geographically, sentimentally, politically, and ethically far from the region and have no intention of solving the issue, adding that the infectivity of the group has already been proved.
He, meantime, said that Iran has proposed a peace plan based on humanitarian principles and taking into consideration the demands of both parties of the clash.
Araghchi said Iran plans to put an end to the dispute through regional cooperation, which is a tough task.
He went on to say that Iran has proposed that key countries of the region, like Russia, should play a role in solving the crisis.
Iran's Regional Initiative includes ceasefire, discontinuation of attacks on residential areas and civilians, as well as return of the displaced to their homes, Araghchi said.
Some interference is taking place on the part of some countries that have no intention of peace in the region, he said, adding that Iran feels the regional responsibility and is going to help the crisis to come to an end.
The most important feature of Iran's peace plan is realism; it stresses principles such as halting occupation, respecting territorial integrity of regional countries, immutability of borders, respecting human rights and minorities, and avoiding attacks on civilians, he said.
He first made a trip to Baku, and after talks with Russian officials in Moscow, he will visit Yerevan and Ankara.
The dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh started in 1988 and led to military conflict in 1992. Armenia and Azerbaijan resumed clashes on the border between the two countries in early October, each blaming the other for the violence. Nagorno-Karabakh has been a bone of contention between the two countries over the past decades.
In 1994, following four years of military conflict between the two countries, some European and regional governments stepped in to end the territorial dispute between Baku and Yerevan, and a ceasefire was finally established through the mediation of the Minsk Group, consisting of the US, Russia, and France,. But international efforts to resolve the conflict peacefully have failed so far.
