RUSSIA, ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN SIGN DECLARATION ON FURTHER KARABAKH SETTLEMENT

Itar-Tass News Agency
Nov 2 2008
Russia

Meiendorf Castle (Moscow Region), 2 November: The presidents of Russia,
Azerbaijan and Armenia have signed a joint Declaration on Nagornyy
Karabakh following their talks in Moscow.

"We had a meaningful and substantive discussion about the prospects
for a political settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, by
means of continuing a direct dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia
with the mediation of Russia, the USA and France as co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group," said [Russian President] Dmitriy Medvedev,
who read out the text of the signed document to journalists.

The presidents "state that they will facilitate the improvement
of the situation in the South Caucasus and provide or establishing
stability ad security in the region through a political settlement of
the conflict based on the principles and norms of international law
and the decisions and documents adopted in this framework, for the
purpose of creating a favourable environment for economic development
and universal cooperation in the region".

[Azeri President] Ilham Aliyev, [Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan
and Dmitriy Medvedev "confirm the significance of continuation by the
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group of their mediatory efforts, taking
into account their meeting in Minsk in November 2007 and subsequent
discussions aimed at the development of the fundamental principles
of a political settlement".

The presidents have agreed that "the achievement of a peaceful
settlement should be accompanied by legally binding international
guarantees of all its aspects and stages".

The Declaration notes that the Azeri and Armenian leaders have
"agreed to continue work, including during further summit meetings, to
coordinate a political settlement for the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict,
and have instructed their foreign ministers to intensify further
steps in the negotiating process in interaction with the co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group".

The final paragraph of the Declaration reads that the presidents
"believe it important to encourage the creation of conditions for
the implementation of measures aimed at strengthening mutual trust
in the context of the settlement efforts".

Yuriy Merzlyakov, the Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group,
told ITAR-TASS that the primary value of the Declaration on Nagornyy
Karabakh signed today is that it is the first agreement since 1994
that has been concluded on paper directly between the two conflicting
parties.

"The main thing is that there has been no such document since 1994 that
would be signed directly by the two conflicting parties," Merzlyakov
explained. He described the Declaration as "a very important document"
capable of giving fresh impetus to further, exclusively peaceful
settlement efforts.