Azerbaijan's foreign minister will meet international mediators in efforts to resolve the country's conflict with Armenia, Baku said Wednesday, as deadly fighting over the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region entered a second week.
The Foreign Ministry said a Thursday "working visit to Geneva" will see Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov meet leaders of the Minsk Group, which was set up by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and is jointly chaired by diplomats from France, Russia, and the United States.
Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.
New clashes erupted on Sept. 27 but international calls for a halt to fighting have gone unanswered. Armenia has continued its attacks on civilians and Azerbaijani forces.
The Minsk Group was formed in 1992 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict but to no avail. A cease-fire, however, was agreed upon in 1994.
Many world powers have urged for a cease-fire and initiating dialogue. Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has said Turkey must be involved in the process to resolve the decadeslong conflict.
