MEDIATORS WILL BE ABLE TO DEVELOP PEACEFUL AGREEMENT IF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN AGREE TO ADMIT TO BASIC PRINCIPLES – RUSSIAN DIPLOMAT
Trend News Agency
Dec 26 2007
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. E.Huseynov / The international mediators
can develop a project for the Armenian-Azerbaijani peaceful agreement
before the presidential election in Armenia, if both the sides agree
upon the basic principals of the regulation of the conflict, Yuri
Merzlakov, the Russian co-chairman of the group of international
mediators stated to the Trend agency on 26 December.
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs from the United States, Russia and
France on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict submitted the written proposals
for regulating the conflict, to Azerbaijan and Armenia during the
meeting in Madrid in the end of November. Due to the confidentiality
of the process, no details were announced on the issue.
"The proposals offer nothing new", stated Merzlakov.
Russian mediator stated that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs hope to
get reaction of both the sides, during their visit to the region in
the mid of the January. The opinions of the Azerbaijan and Armenian
Foreign Ministers, ‘the sides will study proposals’, were announced
during the meeting in Madrid. However.
The peaceful settlement of the conflict has been tried for the past
17 years.
Merzlakov did not exclude that the Presidents of the both countries
may meet after the co-chairs visit to the region and consider the
proposals. The co-chairs are planning to visit the Nagorno-Karabakh,
during their visit to the region in the mid of the January.
Till now OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs submitted three proposals to both
the sides, but two of them were not accepted by Armenia. Baku in its
turn did not agree with the proposal, to establish a confederative
state in the Nagorno-Karabakh.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in
1988 due to the Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since
1992, the Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven neighbouring
districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire
agreement which ended the active hostilities. The Co-Chairs of the
OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding
the peaceful negotiations.