ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN LEADERS DISCUSS CONFLICT SETTLEMENT IN MOSCOW
RIA Novosti
21:4217/07/2009
YEREVAN, July 17 (RIA Novosti) – The presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev, met in Moscow on Friday
to discuss the Nagorny Karabakh conflict.
The talks focused on settlement principles that were agreed at
internationally mediated talks in Madrid two years ago, Armenian
television reported.
The presidents’ bilateral talks will be followed on Saturday by
three-way discussions involving Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
Nagorny Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan with a largely Armenian
population, has been a source of conflict between the former Soviet
republics since the late 1980s. The province has its own government
and is de facto independent.
The secretary general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) said earlier in the day that Armenia and Azerbaijan
need to make concessions based on the principles set out by the OSCE’s
Minsk Group mediating the conflict.
The co-chairs of the Minsk Group – the United States, Russia and
France – said during the G8 summit in Italy earlier this month that
they would submit a revised set of proposals on the disputed region.
"The principles declared in L’Aquila by the leaders of the states
co-chairing the OSCE’s Minsk Group should be acceptable to both
parties in the conflict, and they should move towards rapprochement
on the basis of these principles," Secretary General Marc Perrin de
Brichambaut said at a news conference in Baku.
The Minsk Group said any agreement must be based on an accord reached
in 2007 in Madrid.
The group also unveiled new principles for settling the dispute,
including defining Nargorny Karabakh’s status in regard to freedom
of movement with Armenia, as well as road and rail links between
the countries. The group also said that security in the area must be
guaranteed and troops should be withdrawn.
The war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the mountainous enclave
in 1988-1994 left an estimated 35,000 people dead. Sporadic violence
on the border has continued ever since.