ARMENIA, AZERI LEADERS MEET ON KARABAKH IN MOSCOW
By Conor Sweeney
Reuters
July 17 2009
MOSCOW, July 17 (Reuters) – The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
met in Moscow on Friday in a Moscow-brokered attempt to resolve one of
the bitterest disputes left by the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Armenia’s Serzh Sarksyan and Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev will also have
a joint meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday,
a Russian Foreign ministry source said, without giving further details.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mainly ethnic Armenian Christian enclave inside
Azeri borders, declared independence in 1991 with support from Armenia
and fought Muslim Azerbaijan in a war that killed some 35,000 people
before a shaky ceasefire was signed in 1994.
No country has recognised Karabakh’s independence.
The dispute led to Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey closing their borders
with Armenia and remains one of the biggest threats to stability in
the South Caucasus, a key route for oil and gas supplies from the
Caspian region to Europe.
Efforts by international mediators under the auspices of the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, focused on
finding a temporary solution to the problem including strong autonomy
for Karabakh, have so far led nowhere.
A series of bilateral meetings between Aliyev and Sarksyan has fuelled
hopes that a compromise was near.
Russia has strong leverage on both Azerbaijan and Armenia, and experts
say mediation in Karabakh could consolidate Russia’s strong role in
the Southern Caucasus region.
Medvedev, U.S. President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas
Sarkozy urged Armenia and Azerbaijan last week to work for a compromise
on lines set out by international mediators.
The Kremlin’s chief foreign policy aide, Sergei Prikhodko, said Russia
would be ready to back any solution which suits both sides.
Aliyev, in a speech in London on Monday, ruled out independence
for Karabakh. "We are ready to grant the highest possible level of
autonomy for those who live in Nagorno-Karabakh within the framework
of a sovereign Azerbaijani state," he said.
Karabakh says it insists on independence and Sarksyan will find it
difficult to justify any compromise at home. (Reporting by Conor
Sweeney and Oleg Shchedrov; editing by Tim Pearce)