Interfax, Russia
March 12 2010
Karabakh could be allowed to join peace talks after refugees return –
French Body
YEREVAN March 12
Body Bernard Fassier, the French co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group,
has said that Nagorno-Karabakh officials could be allowed to join the
conflict settlement talks between Baku and Yerevan after all refugees
return to the self-proclaimed republic.
"The sooner Nagorno-Karabakh becomes a participant in the talks, the
better. However, this could happen after all Karabakh residents,
including those who lived there before the conflict, return to their
homes," Fassier said at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s Rose-Roth
seminar in Yerevan on Friday.
Nagorno-Karabakh should be given interim status, he said.
"A solution to the Karabakh conflict ought to envision interim status,
which would allow the population of Karabakh to live in peace. This
status will also make it possible to keep the corridor between Armenia
and Nagorno-Karabakh. Furthermore, it will help refugees return to
their homes, will help deploy peacekeepers in the region and will help
hold a referendum its the future status," Fassier said.
The Kosovo precedent cannot be applied to the situation with
Nagorno-Karabakh, he said.
"Karabakh has not been recognized by any countries in the world.
Besides, the Kosovo issue existed within the borders of one state,
while the Karabakh problem is a conflict between several countries,"
Fassier said.
Any "belligerent" statements made by the sides in the conflict pose a
threat to the peace process, the French diplomat said.
"All belligerent statements are dangerous to the settlement process.
We believe that the harder the sides will try to refrain from making
such statements, the more it will benefit the process itself," he
said.
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen are due to meet with Armenian Foreign
Minister Edward Nalbandian in Paris on March 16, he added.
Baku lost control over Nagorno-Karabakh and seven neighboring
districts during an Armenian-Azeri conflict in the 1990s, as a result
of which nearly one million Azeri people were forced to flee their
homes.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have been negotiating a peaceful solution to
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through third-party mediators from the
OSCE Minsk Group, which includes the U.S., Russia and France.
Azerbaijan and Armenia introduced a ceasefire in May 1994.
OSCE officials have regularly monitored the borderline separating the
two countries’ armed forces.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
