ARMENIAN FM MOSCOW MEETING TO OPEN A DOOR FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION
AssA-Irada
November 4, 2008 Tuesday
Azerbaijan
Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian has said Sundays talks
among the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian presidents in Moscow will
open a door for settling the nearly two-decade-long Upper (Nagorno)
Garabagh conflict. Nalbandian told reporters in Paris that the meeting
was very important in terms of launching a new stage of intensified
peace talks.
In particular, a political settlement of the conflict based on
international law, as mentioned in a joint declaration signed by the
three leaders in conclusion of the Russia-brokered talks, will create
favorable conditions for multi-lateral development of the region, he
said. The declaration envisions further OSCE-brokered dialog between
the conflicting sides. It calls for facilitating the improvement of
the situation in the South Caucasus and establishment of stability
in the region through a political settlement of the conflict based
on the principles and norms of international law and the documents
adopted in this framework. These efforts will give an impetus to
economic and multi-lateral cooperation in the region, the paper
said. Nalbandian emphasized that after the declaration was inked,
co-chairmen of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group (MG) met and continued
discussions. The intermediaries plan to visit the region soon in
an effort to step up the peace process. The conflict between the
two South Caucasus republics reared up in the late 1980s due to
Armenias territorial claims. Armenia has been occupying over 20%
of Azerbaijans 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.