Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
Jan 12 2005
Nagorno-Karabakh: No Breakthrough Reported In Talks Between
Armenians, Azerbaijanis
By Jean-Christophe Peuch
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian met yesterday in Prague
with his Azerbaijani counterpart to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict. Officially, the discussions achieved no breakthroughs, but
both men agreed to meet again in the near future. In an interview
with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, Oskanian said a lot remains to be
done before both sides can agree on the basic principles of a peace
settlement.
Prague, 12 January 2005 (RFE/RL) — The foreign ministers of Armenia
and Azerbaijan met for three hours in Prague in a bid to move the
Nagorno-Karabakh peace process forward.
The discussions took place behind closed doors. Both ministers also
met separately with representatives of the Minsk Group of nations —
France, Russia, and the United States — mandated by the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to mediate in the
conflict. OSCE Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk also attended the
talks.The main result achieved this week in Prague is that both
ministers agreed to meet again in the coming weeks.
The Karabakh conflict dates back to 1988, when the predominantly
Armenian enclave seceded from Soviet Azerbaijan. The move triggered a
six-year war that claimed thousands of lives and drove an estimated
800,000 Azerbaijanis from their homes.
Both sides signed a cease-fire agreement in 1994 but remain
technically at war.
As a prerequisite to any peace deal, Azerbaijan demands that Armenian
troops withdraw from the adjacent territories they have been
occupying since 1993, thus paving the way for the return of displaced
populations. Only once this is achieved, Baku says, can the status of
Karabakh be discussed.
Addressing reporters on the sidelines of yesterday’s Prague meeting,
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov reiterated that his
country will not compromise on the issue: “Our main objective is to
achieve a result. Such a result must be that Armenian forces withdraw
from the occupied territories and that refugees return home. This is
our fundamental approach. What we are discussing here is how to
possibly achieve that result.”
Yesterday’s meeting was the fifth held by Mammadyarov and Oskanian in
the Czech capital in the framework of what is known as the “Prague
process.”
As in previous cases, neither envoy divulged details of the
discussions.
Azerbaijan’s pro-government “525-ci Qazet” newspaper said today that
the main result achieved this week in Prague is that both ministers
agreed to meet again in the coming weeks.
More optimistically, Azerbaijan’s “Zerkalo” (Mirror), a
Russian-language daily, reports both sides agreed on the fundamental
principles of a peace settlement and are now ready to examine
“concrete issues and details.”
But in an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service yesterday,
Oskanian said the basic principles of a peace agreement remain to be
worked out: “I wish I could say that there is a full agreement on the
principles. But we are still not there. There is a general framework
of issues [to be discussed] but, as this [last] meeting showed, they
need to be further consolidated.”
Citing recent remarks attributed to Yuri Merzlyakov, Russia’s envoy
to the Minsk Group, Azerbaijani and Armenian media have been
speculating that Armenia might soon drop its demands for a so-called
“package” solution to the conflict — that is, stop insisting that
the liberation of Azerbaijani territories and the political status of
Karabakh be negotiated simultaneously.
Oskanian flatly denied those claims yesterday. However, he said the
peace process has become so intricate that, in his view, there is no
longer a clear distinction between Armenia’s “package” and
Azerbaijan’s “step-by-step” approach: “The ‘Prague process’ is fairly
difficult and complex, and it will remain such at further meetings.
On the whole, I consider the overall mood and atmosphere [of the
talks] as positive. It is still too early to disclose any details.
But once we achieve concrete results on specific issues, we will
release them gradually.”
The Baku-based Turan news agency yesterday quoted Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry spokesman Metin Mirza as saying the Minsk Group had
discussed with both envoys the possibility of sending a fact-finding
mission to Karabakh and Azerbaijan’s Armenian-held territories.
In the meantime, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
will discuss a draft resolution on the Karabakh conflict later this
month (25 January).
In it, the Strasbourg-based assembly urges country members Armenia
and Azerbaijan to foster political reconciliation. It also calls on
Yerevan to comply with past UN resolutions calling for the liberation
of all occupied territories of Azerbaijan and reaffirms the right of
displaced populations to return to their homes “safely and with
dignity.”