BAKU AND YEREVAN WILL EDIT THE MADRID PRINCIPLES
by Anastasia Novikova

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
January 29, 2010 Friday
Russia

Leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to continue the peaceful
dialog of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with mediation of Russia

HIGHLIGHT: NAGORNO-KARABAKH: IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO EXPECT QUICK RESOLVING
OF THE CONFLICT; Russian President Dmitry Medvedev continues his
mediation efforts related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He received
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Serzh Sargsian and Ilham Aliyev
in Sochi. After the negotiations both guests proposed to present their
proposals related to the disputed places of the new revision of the
Madrid principles for resolving of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. At
the end of the last week, co-chairs of the Minsk OSCE group (Russia,
US and France) handed the new version of this document over to Armenia
and Azerbaijan for coordination.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev continues his mediation efforts
related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He received presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan Serzh Sargsian and Ilham Aliyev in Sochi. After
the negotiations both guests proposed to present their proposals
related to the disputed places of the new revision of the Madrid
principles for resolving of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. At the
end of the last week, co-chairs of the Minsk OSCE group (Russia, US
and France) handed the new version of this document over to Armenia
and Azerbaijan for coordination.

In any case, it seems that the conflict is far from resolving still.

While the presidents had a meeting in Sochi, Defense Minister of
Armenia Seiran Oganian announced that he did not rule out a possibility
of restarting of hostilities in the region.

Medvedev chaired a meeting of the trilateral commission dedicated to
Nagorno-Karabakh regulation with participation of Aliyev and Sargsian
for the fifth time.

The negotiations were held behind the closed doors. Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov reported about their results and said that
discussion of the disputed placed of the renovated Madrid principles
was the main topic of the meeting. Lavrov confirmed that the parties
had disputes and for two hours the leaders discussed certain proposals
presented by co-chars of the Minsk group. Lavrov stated, "There is
common understanding regarding the preamble of this document. Everyone
has recognized usefulness of existence of such document because it
allows having a conversation not in an abstract manner but in relation
to certain formulations."

Before the beginning of negotiations sources in the Kremlin announced
that Russia "will not impose any recipes from outside on participants
of the conflict proceeding from the presumption that the main
responsibility for the final choice should be up to Azerbaijanis
and Armenians."

Meanwhile, politicians in Yerevan keep saying that the future of
Nagorno-Karabakh is impossible within Azerbaijan. Oganian announced
this in the Armenian capital. He added, "This country should understand
that the matter cannot be settled in a unilateral manner" meaning
Azerbaijan and did not rule out a forceful scenario of event.

At the end of November, Aliyev announced that he was ready for
restarting of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh too. Political analysts
say that the military way will be catastrophic for both parties.

Continuation of the negotiation process is important for Russia in
case of its mediation and that is why it is impossible to expect any
breakthrough from the trilateral meetings, says Alexei Malashenko,
member of the scientific council of the Moscow Carnegie center.

Malashenko adds, "The Madrid principles are not a key for solving of
the problem because there is one problem that cannot be solved there.

This is Nagorno-Karabakh and recognition of its independence. Along
with this, there is another problem that seems to be solved. This is
withdrawal of Armenian forces from the territory of Azerbaijan about
which the bargaining was going on now." According to Malashenko,
this will happen sooner or later.

Source: Gazeta, January 26, 2010, pp. 1, 3