U.S. OFFICIAL CITES PROGRESS IN ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN TALKS ON DISPUTED TERRITORY
Desmond Butler

AP Worldstream
Published: Jun 01, 2007

Armenia and Azerbaijan have made substantial progress toward a
settlement on control of a disputed territory, the chief U.S. mediator
in the talks said.

After more than a decade of efforts by international mediators to
broker a deal on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani
and Armenian presidents are close to solving most remaining obstacles
to an agreement on basic principles, according to Matthew Bryza,
U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state.

President Ilham Aliev of Azerbaijan and Armenian President Robert
Kocharian are expected to focus on the sticking points during talks
in St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 9.

"If the St. Petersburg meeting is successful, then the number of
differences remaining on basic principles could be reduced to close
to zero," Bryza told The Associated Press.

Diplomats from the so-called Minsk group of mediators from Russia,
France and the United States have in the past expressed optimism
toward breakthroughs on the difficult dispute only to see negotiations
turn backward.

Nagorno-Karabakh is inside Azerbaijan but has been controlled by ethnic
Armenian forces since a 1994 cease-fire ended a six-year conflict
that killed some 30,000 people and drove more than 1 million from
their homes.

Despite signs of progress in the talks, tensions in the region
remain high.

Azerbaijan has been building up its military as its economy has boomed
from oil revenues at one of the fastest clips of any in the world. It
controls portions of the Caspian Sea, on its eastern fringe, which
has some of the largest oil and gas fields in the former Soviet Union.

Bryza would not identify the unresolved issues, but he outlined some
of the basic principles already reached for a potential resolution.

The two sides have agreed on the return of districts surrounding
Nagorno-Karabakh that are also under ethnic Armenian control.

Bryza would not say whether there is an agreement on the return of
refugees to the region or on any compensation for those who fled
the territory.

A public statement in early May by Aliev that the two countries
had agreed that refugees could return provoked an angry denial from
Armenian officials.

Negotiators have agreed that a settlement would stipulate that a vote
would be held in the future on the territory’s status, but they have
not yet agreed on the timing of the poll or the details of who would
be entitled to vote.

An international peacekeeping force would be present during the interim
period before the vote, and a land corridor would be established
from the territory to Armenia, open to ethnic Armenians living in
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Bryza praised the two sides for making progress on an issue that
stirs passions within both countries.

"The leadership of Armenia and Azerbaijan should be lauded for their
courage in trying to bring stability and prosperity to their peoples,"
he said.