ANKARA STANDS FOR SOONEST RESOLUTION OF KARABAKH CONFLICT

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
13.07.2009 12:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Ankara has welcomed a joint statement by the
co-chairs of the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is mediating between Baku and
Yerevan to resolve the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, Today’s Zaman
reported.

The United States, France and Russia called mutually on Friday for
the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to settle a long-running dispute
over Nagorno Karabakh. In a statement released at the Group of Eight
(G-8) summit in Italy, the three countries, which co-chair the OSCE’s
Minsk Group, said they "affirm our commitment" to efforts by Armenia
and Azerbaijan to finalize "the basic principles for settlement"
of the conflict.

A statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry over the weekend
recalled that the OSCE statement said the countries were instructing
their 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," the Minsk Group statement said.

"The impression we got up to today is that the principles mentioned
constitute a general framework. The presence of some nuances in the
approaches of the two sides concerning these basic principles should
be considered natural," the ministry said, adding that what matters
is the quick completion of negotiations on these basic principles
in order to reach a peaceful resolution of the dispute which has
continued to be a bleeding wound "for both Azerbaijan and Armenia
and for the South Caucasus region for years."