PRESIDENT: GARABAGH SETTLEMENT EFFORTS DWELL ON HISTORICAL JUSTICE
AzerNews Weekly
April 22 2009
Azerbaijan
President Ilham Aliyev has said Azerbaijan`s efforts to resolve the
conflict with Armenia are constructive and are based upon international
law and historical justice.
Addressing a Friday news conference following talks with Russian
President Dmitry Medvedev during a visit to Moscow, Aliyev thanked
President Medvedev for Russia`s efforts in narrowing the differences of
the conflicting sides in the settlement of the Upper Garabagh dispute.
"Certainly, the lack of a final result disappoints us. However, we
cannot turn a blind eye to the advances achieved in talks on settling
the problem. These advances increase our hopes for a peaceful solution
of the conflict. Rapprochement in the positions of the parties over
the recent period and agreeing of the issues that earlier appeared
as being complicated have created good basic principles for the
continuation of talks," President Aliyev said.
Aliyev voiced hope that the process of settling the conflict would
move forward in the coming months and that an agreement reflecting
the interests of both sides would be reached, in particular, within
the framework of ensuring Azerbaijan`s territorial integrity.
"Only after that will it be possible to talk about broad cooperation
in the South Caucasus," the president added.
Medvedev said the Garabagh conflict must be settled while strictly
meeting the interests of the Azerbaijani and Armenian people. He did
not rule out that new ideas might be expressed regarding peace talks.
As a co-chair of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group, Russia is actively
involved in talks on resolving the long-lasting dispute. President
Medvedev joined the process by inviting his Azerbaijani and Armenian
counterparts for talks in Moscow in November 2008.
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian is due to hold talks during his
visit to Moscow on April 23 regarding a trilateral summit on the
Garabagh conflict being hosted by Russia, the Regnum news agency
reported.
Another source, Russia`s influential Kommersant newspaper, said such a
meeting is scheduled on the sidelines of an economic forum and will be
joined by the Azerbaijani president in St. Petersburg this June. This,
too, would take place due to the mediation of President Medvedev.
Of note, President Aliyev paid his visit to Moscow hot on the heals
of his refusal to head to Istanbul where he could have met not only
with Turkish officials, but also with newly-elected US President
Barack Obama.
On the eve of Aliyev`s visit to the Russian capital, Mathew Bryza,
the US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group brokering Garabagh peace talks,
arrived in Baku and held meetings with nearly all top officials – from
the head of state to the National Security Minister. News agencies
report that the US mediator`s meeting with the security chief took
place following Bryza`s personal initiative.
During the meeting with President Aliyev, the sides discussed the
current state of a Garabagh settlement as well as the forthcoming
meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders.
Bryza told reporters that "talks in Baku proceeded very critically
and seriously but not enough to be negative."
The US diplomat said both presidents were studying each other`s
positions as well as those "painful concessions" that they would have
to accept.
"I hope that in the coming months – maybe, in May or June – we will
be able to achieve a breakthrough in the negotiating process on the
Garabagh conflict settlement. The nature of the talks suggests that
this breakthrough will be a real one," he told Voice of America on
a visit to Baku on Thursday, but added that much remained to be done
to make this happen.
"We will do everything we can to foster an agreement between the two
presidents," he said.
The US, Russian and French co-chairs of the Minsk Group are due to
pay their next joint visit to the region this week.
Touching on the new White House administration`s policy on the South
Caucasus, Bryza noted that it essentially remains unchanged. "However,
there is some activity and strengthening of contacts," he said,
apparently referring to the visits to Turkey by President Obama and
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Minsk Group`s efforts have
been intensified as well.
Bryza emphasized that the improvement of Washington-Moscow relations
would neither contradict the interests of Russia`s neighbors nor
result in Moscow`s domination in energy supplies. As for Obama`s
policy on the South Caucasus region, officials said his administration
attaches great importance to these countries and intends to maintain
constructive relations with their leaders.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said after meeting
the US MG co-chair that new positions have recently emerged in the
peace process and that they were discussed. Asked to elaborate, the
minister referred to the issue of opening the Turkey-Armenia border.
"Opening the border without the liberation of the occupied territories
(Azerbaijan`s land under Armenian occupation) contradicts Azerbaijan`s
position," he said.
At the same time, Mammadyarov said the Azerbaijani leader`s visit
to Russia could not be interpreted as "a gesture of protest against
Turkey."
Thus, the US co-chair has made it clear that Washington has no
intention to hand over its allies in the South Caucasus to the Kremlin
and would not allow Russia to dominate in energy supplies to world
markets, even for the sake of improving its relations with Moscow.
Another important statement was the message that the U.S. is trying
to coordinate the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations with the
settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Bryza`s statement that
drastic advances could take place in the Garabagh settlement in the
coming months could not be interpreted any differently, analysts noted.
The Garabagh conflict reared up in the late 1980s due to Armenia`s
territorial claims. Armenia has been occupying over 20% of Azerbaijan`s
internationally-recognized territory since the early 1990s in defiance
of international law. The ceasefire accord was signed in May 1994,
but over a decade of efforts by US, Russian and French mediators
have yielded no results so far, and Armenia frequently violates
the ceasefire.