KARABAKH MEDIATORS GIVE "BASIC PRINCIPLES" TO AZERI, ARMENIAN MINISTERS

Turan News Agency
Nov 29 2007
Azerbaijan

International mediators have submitted the foreign ministers of
Azerbaijan and Armenia a list of "basic principles" on the resolution
of the long-running dispute over Nagornyy Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s
Foreign Ministry has said, according to Turan news agency.

Only one of the principles remain unagreed between the conflicting
sides, Foreign Ministry spokesman Xazar Ibrahim said, but did not
elaborate on that.

The mediators, who represent the USA, Russia and France, presented
the list of basic principles to Elmar Mammadyarov of Azerbaijan and
Vardan Oskanyan of Armenia in Madrid on 29 November, the report said.

Ibrahim said the principles which have already been agreed upon
include withdrawal of occupying troops from Azerbaijani territories,
return of refugees to their homes, restoration of communications and
confidence-building measures between the conflicting sides.

Nagornyy Karabakh, which is internationally recognized as part of
Azerbaijan, broke away from the central government’s control after a
separatist war in the early 1990s. Now the region, along with a chunk
of Azerbaijani territory, is being controlled by ethnic-Armenian and
Armenian forces.

The region’s political status is the bone of contention between the
sides. While Azerbaijan is offering a high autonomy to the ethnic
Armenians living in Nagornyy Karabakh, Armenians are demanding either
independence or unification with Armenia.

Following the meeting in Madrid, Mammadyarov said that Nagornyy
Karabakh’s status was not subject to talks at the moment.

"Before discussing the issue of status, the occupied territories should
be vacated and the Azerbaijani population which lived in Karabakh
before the conflict should return to their homes, communications
should be restored and security should be ensured," APA news agency
quoted Mammadyarov as saying.

"It is impossible to resolve the issue of status without consent of
both the Azerbaijani and Armenian communities of Karabakh," he added.