Hard work still ahead on Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, Russian mediator says

AP Worldstream; Jul 14, 2005

AVET DEMOURIAN

A Russian mediator cautioned that hard work lies ahead to resolve the
long-running conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh and settle the status of
the disputed enclave.

Yuri Merzlyakov, speaking late Wednesday after meeting with officials
in Nagorno-Karabakh, said that “the two sides are still very far from
reaching an agreement to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.”

Russian, French and U.S. envoys from the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe are trying find a solution to the dispute over
the mountainous region, which was seized by ethnic Armenian forces in
a war with Azerbaijan in the 1990s.

Merzlyakov said that months of painstaking work would be required to
bring Armenia and Azerbaijan closer to a compromise.

French diplomat Bernard Fasier said many difficult issues remained but
praised the constructive attitude of the rival Caucasus nations.

“We consider important the spirit of the negotiations and the
relations between the two sides, which are developing positively. This
really is a help to us,” he said.

The self-declared president of Nagorno-Karabakh, Arkady Gukasyan, told
the envoys that although a deal was not yet in the making, “there is
still a great hope of progress,” his press service said Thursday.

A cease-fire was signed in 1994, but the enclave’s final status has
not been determined and shooting breaks out frequently between the two
sides, which face off across a demilitarized buffer zone.

The diplomats from Russia, the United States and France held talks
Wednesday in Nagorno-Karabakh’s main city, Stepanakert, before
returning to Yerevan for more talks.

The OSCE mediators on Tuesday met with officials in Azerbaijan, whose
president, Ilham Aliev, last month said there were signs of progress
in resolving the dispute.

The international community has become increasingly keen to reduce
tensions in this part of the former Soviet Union as energy-rich
Azerbaijan and other countries in the region have exploited vast
reserves of oil around the Caspian Sea.

About 1 million people were displaced by the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, and their resettlement as well as the future status of the
territory are among the major issues to be resolved.