MOSCOW CALLS FOR KARABAKH PEACE TREATY
RT
December 4, 2008, 15:57
Military action is not the solution to the conflict in
Karabakh. Foreign Ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group meeting in Helsinki
discussed the need for a resolution to the long frozen conflict in
the South Caucasus.
"We call for both sides to reaffirm their devotion to a peace
settlement," the group said.
At the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that basic
principles of a peace treaty regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
between Azerbaijan and Armenia must be formed.
"We urge the parties to make efforts jointly with the co-chairmen of
the Minsk Group to achieve an agreement within months on the basic
principles of the settlement, and then, on that basis, to pass over
to drafting a comprehensive peace agreement," Lavrov said at the
meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group.
The two countries came together last month in Moscow and agreed to
seek a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Lavrov reminded both sides about the agreement they signed in
November. "The declaration signed in Moscow opened a new promising
step in the restoration of peace in the region," he said.
Nargorno-Karabakh, a region in the South Caucasus, is technically
part of Azerbaijan. In 1988, the area voted to join with the Armenian
Soviet Republic. This action set off a conflict between Armenians
and Azerbaijanis.
After violence and conflict continued for several years, Armenians
in the region approved through a referendum the creation of an
independent state.
The referendum was rejected by Azerbaijan and conflict escalated.
The fall of the Soviet Union led to a power vacuum causing full-scale
war to erupt. By 1994, thousands had been killed and hundreds of
thousands displaced as a result. With Russia’s help, an un-official
cease-fire was reached in May 1994.
However, random spells of violence continued to plague the region
causing numerous deaths every year on both sides.
Today the region is under joint military control by Armenian and
Nagorno-Karabakh military forces. Armenia remains steadfast in its
commitment to bringing independence to the region while Azerbaijan
claims its territorial integrity must be respected.
The Minsk Group was formed by the OSCE and includes the US, Russia
and France. Its purpose is to encourage and negotiate a complete and
peaceful resolution between Armenia and Azerbaijan regarding Karabakh.
The efforts culminated on 2 November when the President of Azerbaijan,
Ilham Aliyev, and the President of Armenia, Serzh Sarkisyan, signed a
peace declaration at a meeting in Moscow arranged by Russian president
Dmitry Medvedev.