CAUCASUS SOLUTION CALLED AT G-8 MEET

Hurriyet
July 11 2009
Turkey

L’ACQUILA, Italy – The United States, France and Russia called Friday
for the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to settle their long-running
dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

In a statement released from the Group of Eight summit in Italy,
the three co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe, or OSCE, said they affirm their commitment to efforts
by Armenia and Azerbaijan to finalize "the basic principles for
settlement" of the conflict.

Nagorno-Karabakh is an enclave in Azerbaijan that has been under
the control of ethnic Armenian forces since a six-year conflict that
killed some 30,000 people and displaced 1 million before a truce was
reached in 1994.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan
during its conflict with Armenia. 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 the border. Turkish
officials have said Turkey will not open its border with Armenia before
the neighboring country ends its occupation of Karabakh, reassuring
Azerbaijani leaders that Ankara’s efforts to reconcile with Yerevan
would not undermine that country’s interests. OSCE mediators who have
been monitoring peacemaking efforts reported in early May that they
saw signs of progress on the issue.

Proposed peace outline

"On the basis of what we heard from both presidents, we expect to
be in a position to confirm some progress during the next weeks and
months," Bernard Fassier of France said at the time. The statement
the OSCE Minsk Group put out Friday from the G-8 summit said:
"We are instructing our mediators to present to the presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan an updated version" of a proposed peace outline
brought forward in the Madrid Document of November 2007. "We urge the
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the few differences
remaining between them and finalize their agreement on these Basic
Principles, which will outline a comprehensive settlement," Friday’s
statement said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress