OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs arrive in Azerbaijan

OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Igor Popov (Russia), Bernard Fassier (France), Robert Bradtke (US) and Personal Representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk have arrived in Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani news agency APA reports.

The mediators will meet Azerbaijan's President, Ilham Aliyev, and Foreign Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov, and discuss the solution to Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

The official meetings are scheduled for Friday. Later the co-chairs will leave for Armenia.

Earlier today the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and discussed topical issues related to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict ahead of the OSCE summit due in Astana from December 1-2.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh started in the early 1990s when Karabakhi Armenians voiced their intention to live independently from Azerbaijan.

It was followed by pogroms against Armenians in Sumgait, Baku and Nagorno Karabakh that turned into a bloody war, leaving around 30,000 killed and more than a million displaced.