ARMENIA/AZERBAIJAN: PRESIDENTIAL TALKS ON GARABAGH CONFLICT SEEN AS SUCCESSFUL
Source: AzerNews
June 11 2008
Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sarkisian
on Friday held talks on settling the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict
in Russia that were described as successful.
The two leaders met for the first time since the new Armenian president
was elected in February.
The broad meeting that took place at the Konstantinovsky Palace
outside St. Petersburg was attended by the two countries’ foreign
ministers as well as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group brokering the
peace process. It was followed by a one-on-one meeting of the two
heads of state which lasted nearly two hours.
In a joint statement of the two ministers issued after the talks,
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said the presidential
dialog was successful and the sides decided to continue peace talks.
‘The meeting was constructive and positive. The presidents instructed
their foreign ministers to cooperate with the Minsk Group in order
to continue the talks.’
Mammadyarov said the timing of the mediators’ next visit to the region
was being determined. During the visit that is likely to take place
late in June, the intermediaries will hold discussions with the sides
on basic principles of the conflict settlement.
The Minsk Group co-chairs from the United States, Russia and France
submitted a set of basic principles for the peaceful settlement of
the dispute in writing to Baku and Yerevan in the Spanish capital
Madrid on November 28. The intermediaries believe the proposals are
fair and balanced. But the two countries’ governments have yet to
issue their feedback on the proposals.
The two foreign ministers said the Madrid proposals were not discussed
at the St. Petersburg meeting as both sides have their own approaches
that require further consideration.
Asked whether Azerbaijan was intent on transferring the format of
Garabagh settlement to other international organizations and whether
or not Baku saw the prospect of further negotiations within the OSCE,
Mammadyarov said the Minsk Group format was in place and would be
preserved.
After the UN General Assembly passed a resolution in March demanding
unconditional pullout of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied
territories, Azerbaijan put forth the initiative to continue peace
talks based on that document.
Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian said the negotiating
process continues and the fact that Presidents Aliyev and Sarkisian
had met for the first time ‘does not mean that the process is starting
from a scratch’.
The mediators positively assessed the presidential talks as well. US
co-chair Matthew Bryza said the talks were successful although it
was a familiarization meeting. ‘The dialog between Presidents Aliyev
and Sarkisian proceeded in a favorable atmosphere.’ Bryza emphasized
that it was necessary to improve the mediators’ proposals to meet
the needs of both parties to the long-standing dispute.
Russian co-chairman Yuri Merzlyakov said the intermediaries were ready
for further cooperation with a view to achieving tangible results in
the conflict resolution.
The Azerbaijani President’s Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh negotiator,
Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov said Baku would continue peace
talks but Armenia should not assume that it will meet its political
interests by extending the current situation and dragging time.
‘We will not make it easy for them,’ the deputy minister said,
adding that Azerbaijan would be consistently divulging reports about
Armenian occupation.
As for prospects of the peace process, Azimov said neither of the
conflicting sides could meet its needs to the fullest.
‘To receive something, it is necessary to be agile and make
compromise. Baku is ready for that. However, it is unknown at this
point in which shape or form the negotiations will continue. One or
two issues remain, but these are not simple but very important ones.’
The conflict between the two South Caucasus republics reared up in
the late 1980s due to Armenia’s territorial claims. Armenia has been
occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan’s internationally-recognized territory
since the early 1990s, in defiance of international law. The ceasefire
accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks have been fruitless so far.
Although the sides have reached rapprochement on a number of issues
since peace talks began, substantial differences of opinion remain
on the future status of Upper Garabagh, which lies at the core of
the dispute. Armenia calls for the status determination without the
region’s being inferior to the central government in Azerbaijan. This
would be tantamount to granting Upper Garabagh independence, a claim
repeatedly brushed off by Baku as a violation of international
law. Azerbaijan says that granting broad self-administration, or
autonomy, is the biggest concession it could make, and the country’s
territorial integrity is not a subject of discussion.
Throughout the lengthy period of peace talks, the sides were close
to reaching agreement only once – in 1997 – when a stage-by-stage
plan was on the table. Armenia then gave its preliminary consent
to granting Upper Garabagh the status of self-administration within
Azerbaijan’s borders that was close of actual independence. However,
the efforts were derailed after Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosian
had to step down.
The St. Petersburg talks could be seen as the start of a new, fourth
stage in the peace process. In 1993-1997, Presidents Heydar Aliyev
and Levon Ter-Petrosian had over 10 meetings to discuss Garabagh
settlement. In 1999-2002, Presidents Heydar Aliyev and Robert
Kocharian met about 20 times. Finally, Presidents Ilham Aliyev and
Robert Kocharian had nine meetings – one in 2003, two in 2004 and
2005 each, three in 2006, and one in 2007. In a nutshell, although
over 40 meetings have been held between the two countries’ leaders in
the 15 years of Garabagh talks, it is difficult to assess the overall
progress achieved in the negotiating process so far.