MEDIATORS AMEND DRAFT KARABAKH PEACE PROPOSALS

Georgiandaily
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July 29 2009
Georgia

The French, Russian, and U.S. co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group that
seeks to mediate a political solution to the Karabakh conflict have
modified the so-called Madrid Principles intended to serve as the basis
for such an agreement, U.S. co-Chairman Matthew Bryza told RFE/RL’s
Armenian Service on July 27 following two days of consultations in
Krakow with his fellow co-chairs.

In a statement issued on July 10 on the sidelines of the Group of
Eight summit in L’Aquila, the presidents of France, Russia, and the
United States tasked the co-chairs with preparing for presentation to
the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents "an updated version of the
Madrid Document of November 2007, the co-chairs’ last articulation
of the Basic Principles" first unveiled in June 2006.

That L’Aquila statement "urge[d] the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan to resolve the few differences remaining between them
and finalize their agreement on these Basic Principles, which will
outline a comprehensive settlement" of the conflict.

But discrepancies between the summary of the principles outlined in
that statement and the original Basic Principles triggered protest and
alarm in Armenia, especially among major opposition parties. Meeting
on July 17-18 in Moscow, Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev
apparently failed to narrow the outstanding differences between them.

Bryza told RFE/RL on July 27 that the Krakow talks were "productive
and creative," and that the three co-chairs have indeed "prepared
an updated version of the Madrid Document" based on "careful"
consideration of the views expressed by the sides since the unveiling
of the Madrid Document in November 2007.

In that context, Bryza specifically praised the input provided
by former Armenian President Robert Kocharian and former Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian, whose "thoughts and efforts helped lay the
foundation for the Madrid Document." Bryza said their successors,
President Sarkisian and current Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian,
"have helped elicit progress in tough but constructive negotiations
over the past year."

The co-chairs are scheduled to travel to Armenia and Azerbaijan in
August-September in the hope of paving the way for a meeting between
Aliyev and Sarkisian on the sidelines of the CIS summit to be held
in Chisinau.