US ENVOY HOPES FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH DEAL ON PRINCIPLES MID-JULY

Hurriyet
ish/world/11918503.asp?scr=1
June 22 2009
Turkey

ISTANBUL – International mediators hope to reach a deal between
Azerbaijan and Armenia on the principles of a peace deal on the
disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region at talks tentatively planned for
mid-July in Russia, the U.S. negotiator told Reuters in an interview
published Monday.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza said he and
his fellow mediators from France and Russia were "shooting for"
a full framework agreement by the end of 2009.

But Bryza conceded the risk of a last-minute breakdown of the kind
that derailed earlier efforts to broker agreement between Azerbaijan
and Armenia.

"I don’t have any reason necessarily to believe that getting as far
as we have here — which is similar to how far the mediators and the
parties got both at Key West and before — that we’re going to get
further than they did," he told Reuters by phone from Washington at
the weekend.

"I do know that we’ve gotten very far now. What gives me some hope
that we will keep moving is logic," he added.

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 — a frozen conflict legacy
of the Soviet Union.

The OSCE Minsk Group, set up in 1992 and co-chaired by the United
States, Russia, and France, is engaged in efforts to resolve the
conflict peacefully.

Armed clashes still occur regularly along the lines separating Azeri
and Armenian troops, although major hostilities ended.

Bryza said the Minsk Group mediators hoped to bring together Armenian
President Serge Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan in mid-July,
the latest in a string of encounters fuelling speculation of a
breakthrough.

Vote on final status

"We hope that if they meet in the middle of July, they will have
agreed conceptually on all the elements of these basic principles,"
he said. The parties would then go line-by-line through the
three-and-a-half pages of text to agree the details.

"Once that happens, which we the co-chairs are shooting for by the
end of the year, then we could say, it would be true, that a framework
agreement has been reached," he said.

Bryza said the mediators were bridging the gap between the two
countries for an agreement, but that the final deal would likely
provide for a vote "that reflects the genuine will of the populations".

"What we are trying to do is incorporate self-determination through
a voting process on Nagorno-Karabakh’s final legal status, but in
a way that for the foreseeable future has no impact on Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity."

Turkey-Armenia thaw

Turkey and Armenia agreed in April on a "road map" deal for U.S.-backed
talks that could lead to the normalization of ties and the opening
of their border, which Ankara closed in a show of support to Baku in
1993 after Armenian occupation of Azeri territories in the disputed
Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Turkish officials, however, have said Turkey will not open its border
with Armenia before the neighboring country ends its occupation of
Nagorno-Karabakh, reassuring Azeri leaders that Ankara’s efforts to
reconcile with Yerevan would not undermine the country’s interests.

Bryza, also closely involved in the Turkey-Armenia roadmap, said the
processes were separate, but running in parallel. Asked if Turkey
would only reopen the border once Armenia makes concessions on
Nagorno-Karabakh, he replied:

"I do not know if that’s right," he said.

But added: "Where there is unanimity, is that we all say we need to
see a breakthrough on Nagorno-Karabakh and significant progress as
soon as possible, and that’s the way to make sure all these processes
move forward smoothly."