NEW YORK, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Armenian and Azeri leaders are far from signing off on any negotiated settlement to the simmering dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, officials say.
War broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the 1990s due in part to ethnic and territorial disputes over Nagorno-Karabakh. The fallout from the conflict complicates regional relations despite a 1994 cease-fire.
Yerevan claims ethnic Armenians are deprived of their basic rights in the territory, while Baku argues those solutions lie in annexing Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan told reporters that he did not expect to sign on to any settlement over Nagorno-Karabakh when they meet in Moldova on Thursday, reports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The so-called Minsk Group from the Organization for Security and Cooperation has called on both sides to move toward sanctioning a settlement on the issue.
Sargsyan, who is in the United States to meet with the Armenian diaspora, said, however, that both sides were "quite far" from a settlement.
