PARTIES MULL PEACE PLAN FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH ROW
Today’s Zaman
Dec 6 2008
Turkey
Babacan gestures prior to the ministerial council of the OSCE in the
Helsinki Fair Center on Thursday.
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan has suggested that efforts to
resolve a deep-seated dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabakh were nearing a new level, saying the parties were
considering starting work on a peace deal.
"The idea that work on a draft peace deal could start emerged at
the end of the meetings," Babacan told reporters Friday in Helsinki,
where he attended Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) talks. A sub-group of OSCE countries, called the Minsk Group,
is focused on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. The Minsk Group
had two separate meetings in Helsinki this week. "The meetings were
extremely positive," Babacan said, adding that there were "concrete
developments" on the issue. The Minsk Group is co-chaired by the
United States, Russia and France.
Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan in the
early 1990s after a protracted war between Azerbaijan and Armenians
of the mountainous region that began in the late 1980s. In show of
solidarity with Azerbaijan, Turkey severed its diplomatic ties and
closed its border with Armenia and says Armenian withdrawal from
Nagorno-Karabakh is a condition for normalizing ties.
Babacan had separate talks with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian on the
sidelines of the OSCE meetings on Thursday. "I can tell you that
things are going well both in the process between Azerbaijan and
Armenia and between Turkey and Armenia. I say this on the basis of
the impressions I received from Azerbaijan and Armenia," Babacan
said. "We hope these talks reach a positive end. Our goal is full
normalization of relations among Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia."
Azerbaijan’s President Ä°lham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart,
Serzh Sarksyan, met in Moscow last month and, for the first time,
jointly signed a declaration pledging efforts to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. Ankara has welcomed the Moscow summit.
"We have been counseling that this window of opportunity should not
be missed. I hope all these efforts will lead to a new environment
of peace, stability and security in the Caucasus," Babacan said.
President Abdullah Gul started a new period of dialogue with Armenia
in September in a visit to Yerevan to watch a World Cup qualifying
match between the countries’ national soccer teams.
In Helsinki, Babacan also participated in the first meeting of a
regional platform initiated by Turkey. Deputy foreign ministers of
the five member countries of the Caucasus Stability and Cooperation
Platform met on the sidelines of the OSCE meeting, the first time
representatives from the group sat around the same table.
Turkey proposed the platform for conflict resolution in the volatile
Caucasus following a brief war between Russia and Georgia over the
breakaway region of South Ossetia in August. The platform consists
of Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Babacan said the
member states agree on the need to speed up work for the improvement
of cooperation within the platform and added that the parties were
working on principles and decision-making mechanisms for it. "We hope
they will be concluded soon and that we will be able to officially
start it," he said.
–Boundary_(ID_MdWPApv96zdwTvlzuoEnRA)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
