GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER CALLS FOR ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI AGREEMENT
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany
February 20, 2007 Tuesday 1:09 PM EST
DPA POLITICS Armenia Diplomacy Germany German foreign minister calls
for Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement Yerevan, Armenia At the end of his
trip to the Caucasus, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier
on Tuesday in the Armenian capital Yerevan called for Armenia and
Azerbaijan to resolve quickly the conflict over the disputed exclave
of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The two former Soviet republics did not require any further offers
of new mediation from outside for the talks to continue, Steinmeier
said after meeting with his Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanyan.
The Armenians and Azerbaijanis had had successes in recent months
that had to be built upon, Steinmeier said.
The predominantly Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh currently lies
entirely within Azerbaijan’s borders. The region declared itself
independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s,
but this has not been recognized by any country, including Armenia.
During negotiations, the Armenian side declared itself willing at
the end of 2006 to return to Azerbaijan all other areas it occupied
apart from Nagorno-Karabakh.
This was seen in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku as an encouraging
sign for a possible agreement with Armenia.
What remained unclarified was the future status of Nagorno- Karabakh
itself.
The 4,400-square-kilometre region is officially a part of Azerbaijan,
but in a war between 1992 and 1994, the local population drove out
Azerbaijan’s troops with support from Armenia.
Some 750,000 Azerbaijanis are believed to have lost their homes in
the conflict.
There has been a ceasefire in the region since 1994.
Alongside the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), the so-called Minsk Group under the leadership of Russia,
the United States and France has been searching for a solution.