Reuters, UK
July 19 2009

Armenia, Azerbaijan still apart on Karabakh

Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:13am EDT

* Armenia hails talks, but Azeris see no progress

* Leaders to meet again in autumn, says Armenia

By Hasmik Lazarian and Afet Mehtiyeva

YEREVAN/BAKU, July 19 (Reuters) – The presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan plan to meet again this autumn after talks in Moscow over
Nagorno-Karabakh which the Azeri side said were unproductive,
officials said on Sunday.

Armenia’s Serzh Sarksyan and Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev met Kremlin
chief Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday in a bid to resolve the Karabakh
dispute, one of the so-called ‘frozen conflicts’ left by the Soviet
Union’s 1991 collapse.

"Statements by officials made after the meeting indicate that no
progress on principle issues has been made," Panakh Huseinov, from
Azerbaijan’s security and defence parliamentary committee and an
opposition member, told Reuters.

Armenia hailed the talks as "constructive" and its foreign ministry
said the leaders would meet again in autumn. Armenian state TV said it
will be in October.

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.

Azerbaijan’s Huseinov said that his country believes "real steps on
elimination of occupation" need to be made before any kind of
agreement is signed.

Late on Friday, Sarkysan’s press office issued a statement saying his
talks with Aliyev earlier that day were held "in a constructive
spirit" and that the two sides will continue negotiations aimed at a
"peaceful settlement".

Efforts by international mediators under the auspices of the
Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), focused on
finding a temporary solution to the problem including strong autonomy
for Karabakh, have so far led nowhere.

Russia exerts strong leverage on both ex-Soviet states, and experts
say mediation in Karabakh could consolidate Russia’s strong role in
the Southern Caucasus region.

The Kremlin’s chief foreign policy aide, Sergei Prikhodko, who
co-chairs the Minsk Group, which is mandated to act as an
intermediary, was quoted by Interfax on Saturday as saying that the
lengthy talks were "very constructive".

(Writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman in Moscow; Editing by Richard
Balmforth)