ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN SIGN JOINT DECLARATION OVER NAGORNO-KARABAKH

Journal of Turkish Weekly
Nov 3 2008
Turkey

MEIENDORF CASTLE, Russia (RFE/RL) — Azerbaijan and Armenia have
called for a peaceful resolution of their long-standing dispute over
the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.

The two countries’ presidents issued a joint declaration following
Russia-mediated talks in Moscow, the first document to be signed by
the two countries on the issue in almost 15 years.

‘Moscow Declaration’ A Victory For Armenia. Read an analysis by
RFE/RL’s Liz Fuller here.In the resolution, Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart, Serzh Sarkisian, pledged
to intensify negotiations to end the dispute.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave within
Azerbaijan that broke away from Baku’s control in a war in the
early 1990s.

The talks were mediated by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, whose
country — together with France and the United States — co-chairs the
Minsk Group, created by the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe’s (OSCE) to broker a peace deal.

‘Activate Negotiation Process’

Medvedev read a joint declaration during a signing ceremony after
the talks.

"The presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia decided to continue their
work — including at further high-profile talks — to agree on a
political settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Medvedev
said. "They instructed their foreign ministers to activate the
negotiation process, in collaboration with the co-chairs of the OSCE’s
Minsk Group."

The declaration, although merely reiterating previous positions,
is still a breakthrough. It is the first official document signed
by Yerevan and Baku on the issue since the 1994 truce that ended the
Nagorno-Karabakh war.

The presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia last met to discuss
a peace plan just over four years ago in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana.

The meeting, which was held on the fringes of a Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) summit, had failed to jumpstart the peace
process. Subsequent diplomatic efforts to solve the dispute also
proved fruitless, including June talks between Aliyev and Sarkisian

Breakthrough ‘Possible’

The region has drawn increased diplomatic interest since Russia and
Georgia went to war in August over another frozen conflict area,
Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia.

During a visit to Yerevan on October 17, U.S. Assistant Secretary
of State Daniel Fried said a breakthrough on Nagorno-Karabakh was
"possible" by year’s end.

The war there claimed an estimated 30,000 lives and forced about 1
million people from their homes, most of whom are still unable to
return. The two sides are still technically at war because no peace
treaty has been signed and crossborder skirmishes are still common.

The talks outside Moscow, which were proposed last month by Medvedev,
are widely viewed as a renewed Kremlin effort to consolidate its
influence in the energy-rich Caspian after its brief war with Georgia
raised tensions throughout the region.