VIENNA, October 26. /TASS/. Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will hold talks with the Armenian and Azeri foreign ministers in Geneva on October 29 to reach a peaceful settlement in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the OSCE reported Sunday.
The co-chairs held a meeting with the top Armenian and Azeri diplomats in Washington on October 24. They called on the parties to the conflict to implement the agreements reached in October and facilitated by the Minsk Group and resume the full-fledged peace negotiations on the conflict settlement.
"The Co-Chairs and Foreign Ministers agreed to meet again in Geneva on October 29 to discuss, reach agreement on, and begin implementation, in accordance with a timeline to be agreed upon, of all steps necessary to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in accordance with the basic principles accepted by the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia," the OSCE statement reads.
Earlier, Armenia and Azerbaijan reached agreements on a humanitarian ceasefire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone starting with October 18.
Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area experienced flare-ups of violence in the summer of 2014, in April 2016 and this past July. Azerbaijan and Armenia have imposed martial law and launched mobilization efforts. Both parties to the conflict have reported casualties, among them civilians.
As a result of the Russia-initiated consultations in Moscow Baku and Yerevan agreed to cease fire starting from 12:00 local time of October 10 for humanitarian purposes for exchanging prisoners of war and bodies of the dead. However, both parties to the conflict reported violations the very same day. On October 17, the two foreign ministries announced a new humanitarian ceasefire starting with 00:00 on October 18. Meanwhile, hostilities continue, while both sides accuse each other of violating the ceasefire.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992-1994, tensions boiled over and exploded into large-scale military action for control over the enclave and seven adjacent territories after Azerbaijan lost control of them. Talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement have been ongoing since 1992 under the OSCE Minsk Group, led by its three co-chairs - Russia, France and the United States.