ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN LEADERS TO MEET IN MOSCOW FOR CONFLICT TALKS
AFP
29 oct 08
MOSCOW (AFP) — The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet
in Moscow this weekend to discuss the Nagorny Karabakh conflict in
talks mediated by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin
said Wednesday.
"On November 2, 2008, in Moscow… a meeting will take place between
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh
Sarkisian with the participation of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
on the regulation of the Nagorny Karabakh conflict," the Kremlin said
in a statement.
Armenia and Azerbaijan confirmed that the meeting would take place, but
presidential officials in both countries declined to comment further.
Medvedev visited Armenia last week in a fresh push to end the
long-simmering conflict over Nagorny Karabakh, an enclave of Azerbaijan
with a largely ethnic Armenian population that broke free of Baku’s
control in the early 1990s.
Sarkisian said at the meeting that he was ready for talks with Baku
on the basis of principles worked out at negotiations in Madrid last
year, meaning that the people of Nagorny Karabakh gain the right
to self-determination.
The enclave has been the subject of heightened international diplomacy
in recent weeks, with US and Turkish officials visiting Armenia to
push for a negotiated solution.
Analysts say Moscow is keen to maintain influence in Armenia, its
main ally in the Caucasus, after Russia’s brief war with US-allied
Georgia in August raised tensions throughout the region.
The August war, which began when Georgia attacked its own breakaway
enclave of South Ossetia, raised fears of similar violence in Nagorny
Karabakh.
Nearly 30,000 were killed in the 1990s war over the enclave and
soldiers on both sides continue to exchange sporadic fire, claiming
lives.