OSCE MG INTRODUCES UPDATED VERSION OF MADRID PRINCIPLES TO YEREVAN

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.01.2010 19:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Following the meeting with Armenia’s President
Serzh Sargsyan, the Co-Chairs of OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassadors Yuri
Merzlyakov (Russia), Bernard Fassier (France) and Robert Bradtke
(U.S.) have issued the following statement:

"On January 20, the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs (Ambassador Yuri
Merzlyakov, the Russian Federation; Ambassador Bernard Fassier,
France; Ambassador Robert Bradtke, United States) met with Armenian
President Serzh Sargsian in Yerevan, Armenia. As instructed by
their presidents in L’Aquila in July 2009, the Co-Chairs delivered
to President Sargsian, just as they had to President Ilham Aliyev
during their visit to Baku in December 2009, an updated version of the
Madrid Document of November 2007, containing the Co-Chairs’ latest
articulation of the Basic Principles. On January 21, the Co-Chairs
met President Aliyev in Baku, Azerbaijan. In their discussions with
the Co-Chairs, each president expressed their commitment to continue
to pursue a peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and
reaffirmed the seriousness of their side in the negotiations.

The Co-Chairs traveled to Astana, Kazakhstan for consultations with
the Government of Kazakhstan, upon its ascension to the Chairmanship of
the OSCE. Following their consultations in Astana, they will continue
on to Sochi, Russia, where Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will host
the next meeting between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia."

The conflict between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan broke out in
1988 as result of the ethnic cleansing the latter launched in the
final years of the Soviet Union. The Karabakh War was fought from
1991 to 1994. Since the ceasefire in 1994, sealed by Armenia, Nagorno
Karabakh and Azerbaijan, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions
of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control
of NKR defense army. Armenia and Azerbaijan are holding peace talks
mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group up till now.

The Madrid principles contain the proposals put forward by the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs on the basic principles of the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict settlement. The document was submitted to the Armenian and
Azerbaijani representatives at the OSCE summit in the Spanish capital
in November 2007.