AZERBAIJAN-ARMENIA AGREE ON TURKEY-LED NAGORNO-KARABAKH PLAN
Hurriyet
Feb 11 2009
Turkey
Armenia and Azerbaijan reached a partial agreement on a solution
plan for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The agreement came after the
Turkish foreign minister’s contacts with officials from both countries,
Hurriyet daily reported on Wednesday.
The sides agree on the four points of the draft plan that aimed at
resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Hurriyet added.
According to the plan, Armenia will return some of the towns
surrounding the Nagorno-Karabakh region to Azerbaijan in a specific
timetable and repatriate the Azeris who were forced to leave the
regions, the report said.
The administration of the Nagorno-Karabakh region will be handed to
a provisional body and Kelbejer will be returned to Azerbaijan after
the status of the region is determined, Hurriyet added.
The railroad and highway between Azerbaijan and Armenia will be
opened, while an international peace force will be deployed at the
border region between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the report said.
Officials said any step taken towards the solution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will have a positive impact on Turkey-Armenia
relations. Turkey closed its borders with Armenia in the 1990s to
protest Yerevan’s occupation of Azerbaijani territory.
BABACAN’S CONTACTS
Hurriyet said the agreement came after the busy meeting traffic of
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan. He met with Armenian Foreign
Minister Eduard Nalbandian and President Serzh Sargsyan on the
sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
He later held a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar
Memmdyarov on the plane on their way to Ankara. On board, the two
ministers took the snap decision not to land in Ankara but travel onto
Baku where they met with Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev on Monday.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a frozen conflict legacy of the Soviet Union, has
been standing at the center of Azerbaijan-Armenia and Turkey-Armenia
relations. Turkey closed its borders with Armenia due to Yerevan’s
aggression against Azerbaijan.
The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia began in 1988 on Armenian
territorial claims over Azerbaijan. Since 1992 Armenian Armed Forces
have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and its seven surrounding districts.
Both countries continue with fruitless peace negotiations. The OSCE
Minsk Group, co-chaired by the United States, Russia, and France,
is engaged in efforts to the conflict peacefully.