IRAN HAS ‘OWN CONSIDERATIONS’ REGARDING KARABAKH PEACEKEEPING
Tigran Avetisian
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19.02.2010
Iran has its own considerations and views about a peacekeeping force
that could be deployed in the Karabakh conflict zone, according to
the Islamic Republic’s chief diplomat in Armenia.
Ambassador Seyed Ali Saghaeyan told a press conference in Yerevan on
Friday that "Iran shares a common border with Karabakh and therefore
we surely have our own considerations and views about the composition
of a peacekeeping force that might be deployed in the conflict zone."
The ambassador did not specify, however, the country whose
participation in such a peacekeeping operation would be unacceptable
for Iran. Nor did the Iranian ambassador specify what he meant by
saying that Iran and Karabakh "share a common border." Saghaeyan was
speaking in Persian through his official interpreter.
Iran borders on three districts of Azerbaijan outside the territory
of de-facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh proper. The districts of
Jebrail, Fizuli and Zangelan to the south of Nagorno-Karabakh’s former
administrative border have been controlled by the Karabakh Armenian
military since 1994 when a truce was signed between the parties to
the three-year-long armed conflict.
An unspecified peacekeeping operation as part of international security
guarantees is incorporated in the set of basic principles of Karabakh
conflict settlement proposed by international mediators.
Armenia and Azerbaijan at present consider whether they assume these
principles as a basis for further talks to hammer out a framework
peace agreement.
Speaking about the current Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks over
Nagorno-Karabakh, Ambassador Saghaeyan said that Iran wants to see
tensions relieved and disputes settled in the region, which, he said,
would "meet the interests of all peoples of the region."
The Iranian diplomat said Tehran has sought "to promote peace from the
very onset of the Karabakh conflict" and reminded that two ceasefires
in the conflict were established thanks to Iranian mediation.
Iran, according to its ambassador, hails any international initiative
aimed at achieving a settlement, including the negotiating process
in the format of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe’s Minsk Group.
At the press conference, the Iranian ambassador also expressed his
country’s support for the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
