MINSK GROUP HOPEFUL OF KARABAKH ‘BREAKTHROUGH’
By Liz Fuller
ISN – International Relations & Security Network
/Security-Watch/Detail/?ots591=4888CAA0-B3DB-1461- 98B9-E20E7B9C13D4&lng=en&id=103199
July 13 2009
Ambassadors Bernard Fassier of France (left), Matthew Bryza of the
US and Yury Merzlyakov of Russia (right), the Co-Chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group Speaking in Baku, Russian co-Chairman Yury Merzlyakov said
the co-chairs are hopeful that next week’s meeting between the two
presidents could lead to a breakthrough, Liz Fuller reports for RFE/RL.
The visit by the French, Russian, and US co-chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group to Yerevan and Baku may have brought a formal settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict one step closer.
Meeting with the Minsk Group co-chairs on July 8 and 10, respectively,
the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to meet in Moscow on 17
July. That meeting will be the sixth between Armenian President Serzh
Sarkisian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in just over a year.
Speaking in Baku on 10 July, Russian co-Chairman Yury Merzlyakov said
the co-chairs are hopeful that next week’s meeting between the two
presidents could lead to a breakthrough. But he said it is unlikely
that any document will be signed at that meeting.
French co-Chairman Bernard Fassier said in Yerevan on 8 July that
the conflict parties have agreed on almost all the 15 or so points
of the Basic Principles for resolving the conflict.
He said they still have to reach agreement on the future status of
Nagorno-Karabakh and on security guarantees for its predominantly
Armenian population.
Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev told a Russian television channel
last weekend that the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh could remain
undecided for 10 or even 100 years.
Armenia and Azerbaijan still disagree over whether Nagorno-Karabakh
should join the peace talks. Aliyev said this is unnecessary and
would be "disruptive."
But Russian Minsk group co-chairman Merzlyakov told journalists in
Yerevan on 8 July that the co-chairs would like Nagorno-Karabakh
representatives to join the talks after the signing of the Basic
Principles.
Snipers
Speaking today at a conference in Stepanakert, de facto
Nagorno-Karabakh leader Bako Sahakian said no peace agreement is
possible without Karabakh’s participation.
"Karabakh, which is the main party to the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict,
has been left out of the negotiations, and we must achieve the return
to this important principle. It is impossible to realize any solution
without the consent of the people of the Nagorno-Karabakh republic,"
Sahakian said.
The co-chairs hailed on 8 July the stated readiness of both
Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia to withdraw the Armenian snipers deployed
along the Line of Contact that separates Armenian and Azerbaijani
forces. Snipers kill dozens of servicemen on both sides every
year. Azerbaijan, however, has not yet agreed to withdraw its snipers.
A further potential sticking point is the timeframe for the withdrawal
of Armenian forces from seven districts of Azerbaijan they currently
control. The Basic Principles require a withdrawal from five of those
districts and the deployment of international peacekeepers in the
other two, which lie between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.
Karabakh Defense Minister Lieutenant General Movses Hakopian was quoted
on July 9 as saying no one has asked Karabakh to withdraw from those
districts, and that the unrecognized republic’s leadership does not
intend to give them up.
The French, Russian, and US presidents issued a statement on 10 July
at the G8 summit in Aquila calling on the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan to resolve the remaining differences and complete the
conflict resolution process.
RFE/RL’s Armenian and Azerbaijani services contributed to this report.