ARMENIAN-AZERI LEADERS HOLD TALKS

Aljazeera.net
November 23, 2009 Monday
Qatar

Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, has warned Serzh Sargsian,
his Armenian counterpart, that he will pursue a military option
against Armenia if a long-running border dispute is not resolved in
Munich this week.

The presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia met for talks at the
headquarters of the French consulate general in Germany on Sunday.

The meeting focused on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh, a landlocked
region in the south Caucasus where territorial ownership had instigated
armed conflict with the participation of ethnic Armenians

Turkey, a new edition to the official mediators of the talks, attended
the meeting to press for progress before sealing a rapprochment
with Armenia. Officials from the United States, France and Russia
also joined.

The talks in Germany mark the sixth encounter for the Armenian and
Azeri president.

Patience ‘running thin’

Prior to the meeting, Aliyev warned that his country andrsquo;s
military was ready to take back the mountainous territory by force.

In comments broadcast on Saturday, he also warned Azeri patience
was running out, a statement analysts say reflects rising tension
over the prospect of Turkey opening its border with Armenia, which
oil-producing Azerbaijan vehemently opposes.

"If that meeting ends without result, then our hopes in negotiations
will be exhausted and then we are left with no other option. We have
the full right to liberate our land by military means," Aliyev said.

But a bid by Turkey and Armenia to bury a century of hostility stemming
from the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks has thrust the
Caucasus conflict back into the diplomatic spotlight.

Natalia Leshchenko, an expert on the Caucasus region, told Al Jazeera:
"This conflict has been frozen for almost two decades now so its
unlikely it would erupt into war. Besides, the Azeri leader is aware
of the fact that he would have to play against all the great powers
of the world by trying to start a conflict."

She said: "This is almost being done for the benefit of the domestic
audience to say that he will go ahead with these talks."

Turkey mediates

Ankara and Yerevan have signed accords to establish diplomatic ties
and open their border, which Turkey closed in 1993 in solidarity with
Azerbaijan during the war.

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 crippled economy.

But Azerbaijan has reacted angrily, fearing it will lose leverage
over Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

US, Russian and French mediators say they are making progress in
intensified talks, but Western diplomats say neither side appears
ready to commit to painful concessions.

‘Making progress’

The principles of a new deal would allow ethnic Armenian forces to
give back most of seven Azeri districts surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh
that they captured during the war.

If the deal is approved the territory would then be granted greater
international legitimacy before a popular vote in the future to decide
its final status.

Nagorno-Karabakh has been under control of Armenian troops and ethnic
Armenian forces since a 1994 ceasefire deal that ended six years of
war and killed at least 30,000 people.

The territory of 100,000 people wants recognition as an independent
state, but 15 years of mediation have failed to produce a peace deal.

Instead, sporadic exchanges of fire continue to threaten war in a
key oil and gas transit region to the West.