ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN SET TO RESUME KARABAKH TALKS
By Ruzanna Khachatrian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Jan 9 2007
The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan will likely meet
later this month to continue the thorny search for a peaceful solution
to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict officials in Yerevan and Baku said
on Tuesday.
According to Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, the meeting is "very
tentatively" scheduled to take place in Moscow on January 23. A
spokesman for his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov was quoted
by Azerbaijani media as confirming the information.
The talks will presumably be attended by the French, Russian and U.S.
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. The mediating troika is pressing
the parties to build on progress that was apparently made by the
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan during their last face-to-face
meeting held in Minsk on November 28.
President Robert Kocharian made it clear last month, however, that
Yerevan will not cut any peace deals with Baku before the Armenian
parliamentary elections due next month. Oskanian insisted on December
19 that the negotiating process has not been put on hold and will
continue with "less publicity" in the coming months. The Minsk Group’s
U.S. co-chair, Matthew Bryza, was likewise reported to say that the
mediators and the parties will continue to "work together quietly."
Oskanian implied on Tuesday that a breakthrough can be achieved later
this year. "I have repeatedly said that quite an interesting [peace]
proposal is on the table," he told a news conference. "Assuming that
there is political will, one can expect serious progress in this
process at any moment."
Oskanian reiterated that further progress in the peace process hinges
on Azerbaijan’s acceptance of the "Nagorno-Karabakh people’s right to
self-determination." The Minsk Group’s current peace proposals seem
to uphold that right, envisaging a future referendum on the disputed
region’s status.
However, Azerbaijani leaders say they will never agree to Karabakh’s
independence or unification with Armenia. In his New Year address to
the nation, President Ilham Aliev said Baku can grant the Karabakh
Armenians only "greater autonomy opportunities within Azerbaijan."
For his part, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Tagizade
claimed Tuesday that their right to self-determination is not
incompatible with Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.
