ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN SHOULD REACH COMPROMISE ON KARABAKH-SARKOZY
Itar-Tass
March 11 2010
Russia
PARIS, March 11 (Itar-Tass) – Yerevan and Baku should reach compromise
for the resumption of the "peace dynamics" of the Nagorno-Karabakh
problem, believes French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
He expressed this view at talks with Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyan
held in the Elysee Palace on Wednesday.
"Each party should exert every effort, reach compromise for the
resumption of the peace dynamics of the settlement of the conflict (in
Nagorno-Karabakh)," Sarkozy stressed. He noted that the "initiative
launched 1.5 years ago in this sphere has weakened." France, along
with Russia and the United States, is co-chair of the OSCE Minsk
Group created in 1992 for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict.
At the talks the French and Armenian presidents also discussed various
aspects of the bilateral trade-economic cooperation between Paris and
Yerevan, as well as issues of EU-Armenia cooperation. Sargsyan staff
members said that "Sarkozy has confirmed his country’s intention
to develop relations with Armenia in all spheres and stressed that
France has been and remains Armenia’s friend constantly standing by."
It has been the second meeting of Sarkozy with Sargsyan after the
current president of Armenia took office in April 2008. Sargsyan paid
his first working visit to Paris in November 2008.
The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from
February 1988 to May 1994, in the small enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh
in south-western Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of
Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of
Azerbaijan. As the war progressed, Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former
Soviet Republics, entangled themselves in a protracted, undeclared
war in the mountainous heights of Karabakh as Azerbaijan attempted
to curb the secessionist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh. The enclave’s
parliament had voted in favour of uniting itself with Armenia and a
referendum was held, and the vast majority of the Karabakh population
voted in favour of independence. The demand to unify with Armenia,
which proliferated in the late 1980s, began in a relatively peaceful
manner; however, in the following months, as the Soviet Union’s
disintegration neared, it gradually grew into an increasingly violent
conflict between ethnic Armenians and ethnic Azerbaijanis, resulting
in claims of ethnic cleansing by all sides.
Full-scale fighting erupted in the late winter of 1992. International
mediation by several groups including Europe’s OSCE failed to bring
an end resolution that both sides could work with. In the spring of
1993, Armenian forces captured regions outside the enclave itself,
threatening the involvement of other countries in the region. By the
end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of most
of the enclave and also held and currently control approximately 9%
of Azerbaijan’s territory outside the enclave. As many as 230,000
Armenians from Azerbaijan and 800,000 Azeris from Armenia and Karabakh
have been displaced as a result of the conflict. A Russian-brokered
ceasefire was signed in May 1994 and peace talks, mediated by the
OSCE Minsk Group, have been held ever since by Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security
and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, now Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)) to encourage a peaceful, negotiated
resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over
Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Helsinki Additional Meeting of the CSCE Council on 24 March 1992
requested the CiO to convene as soon as possible a conference on
Nagorno-Karabakh under the auspices of the CSCE to provide an ongoing
forum for negotiations towards a peaceful settlement of the crisis
on the basis of the principles, commitments and provisions of the CSCE.
The Conference is to take place in Minsk. Although it has not to
this date been possible to hold the conference, the so-called Minsk
Group spearheads the OSCE’s effort to find a political solution to
this conflict.
On 6 December 1994 the Budapest Summit decided to establish a
co-chairmanship for the process. Furthermore the Heads of State or
Government expressed their political will to deploy multinational
peacekeeping forces as an essential part of the overall settlement
of the conflict.
Implementing the Budapest decision, the Chairman-in-Office issued on
23 March 1995 the mandate for the Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Process.
On the basis of the above-mentioned documents the main objectives
of the Minsk Process could be summarized as follows: Providing
an appropriate framework for conflict resolution in the way of
assuring the negotiation process supported by the Minsk Group;
Obtaining conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the cessation
of the armed conflict in order to permit the convening of the Minsk
Conference; Promoting the peace process by deploying OSCE multinational
peacekeeping forces.
The Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Group visit the region to conduct talks
with the Parties to the Conflict. They also hold meetings with the
Chairman-in-Office and the members of the Minsk Group to brief them
on the process.