Reuters, UK
Nov 22 2009
Mediators report progress in rebel Karabakh talks
Sun Nov 22, 2009 1:31pm EST
* Difficulties also identified – French envoy
* Turkey wants Armenian concessions before opening border
* Azeri leader warned of force ahead of meeting (Adds quotes, background)
By Anna Holzer
MUNICH, Germany, Nov 22 (Reuters) – Mediators reported important
progress at talks on Sunday between Azerbaijan and Armenia on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but said difficulties were also identified
as the Azeri leader threatened renewed war.
Tensions over the breakaway mountain region are rising, with
oil-producing Azerbaijan angry at a deal between ally Turkey and
Armenia to open their border, 16 years after Ankara closed it in
solidarity with Azerbaijan during the Nagorno-Karabakh war.
Turkey says it will only go through with the deal if Armenia makes
concessions on Nagorno-Karabakh, where ethnic Armenians backed by
Christian Armenia broke away from Muslim Azerbaijan as the Soviet
Union headed towards its 1991 collapse.
The rebel territory lies at the heart of the South Caucasus, a
strategic crossroads and key transit region for oil and gas, where
Russia and the West are vying for influence.
Mediators from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
gave few details after four hours of talks between Azeri President
Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarksyan, but reported
progress as well as difficulties.
Both presidents left the meeting at the French General Consul’s
residence in Munich without talking to reporters. It was their sixth
meeting this year.
"Some important progress has been reached," French mediator Bernard
Fassier told reporters. "At the same time we have identified some
difficulties."
Fassier said he and his co-mediators from the United States and Russia
would start preparing the next meeting, without specifying when it
might take place. "We hope for additional progress in the following
weeks and beginning of next year."
"MILITARY MEANS"
Aliyev, whose country is being courted by Europe to supply gas for the
planned Nabucco pipeline, had raised the stakes before the talks,
warning that the meeting would be "decisive" and that his army was
ready to take back the region by force.
"Azerbaijan is spending billions on buying new weapons, hardware,
strengthening its position on the line of contact," Aliyev said in
comments broadcast on Saturday. "We have the full right to liberate
our land by military means."
Fassier, in response, said: "Our governments are of the opinion that
war is not an option."
Analysts say Aliyev’s warning reflects Azeri anger over the deal
between Turkey and Armenia, which is aimed at burying a century of
hostility stemming from the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman
Turks.
The deal carries huge significance for Turkey’s diplomatic clout in
the strategic Caucasus region, for its bid to join the European Union,
and for landlocked Armenia’s struggling economy.
Azerbaijan fears it will lose leverage over Armenia. Stung by the
backlash and facing tough talks over Azeri gas supplies, Ankara says
it wants progress on Nagorno-Karabakh before it ratifies the Armenia
deal. Armenia rejects the link.
Some 30,000 people died and more than one million were made homeless
before a ceasefire was declared in Nagorno-Karabakh in 1993. The
territory wants recognition as an independent state, but without a
full peace deal sporadic exchanges of fire continue to threaten fresh
conflict.
The principles of a deal would see Nagorno-Karabakh give back most of
seven surrounding Azeri districts captured during the war, in exchange
for greater international legitimacy before a popular vote in the
future to decide its final status. (Writing by Matt Robinson; editing
by Elizabeth Fullerton) (([email protected]; +995 32
999 370))
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