RUSSIA PLAYS IMPORTANT, POSITIVE ROLE IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH SETTLEMENT — ALIYEV
ITAR-TASS
July 13 2009
Russia
LONDON, July 13 (Itar-Tass) –The Russian leadership and President
Dmitry Medvedev play an important and positive role in search for
a peaceful solution to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan
over Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev said.
"Russia is interested to resolve the conflict, and we see and
appreciate these efforts," Aliyev said at the Royal Institute of
International Affairs on Monday.
He expressed hope that the approaches formulated in the Moscow
Declaration would be accepted by all parties to the talks, which
should pave the way for the resolution of the conflict in which
"there has been neither peace nor war" over the past 15 years.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began on February 22, 1988, when the
first direct confrontation occurred in the enclave after a big group
of Azeris had marched towards the Armenian-populated town of Askeran,
"wreaking destruction en route." A large number of refugees fled
Armenia and Azerbaijan as violence erupted against the minority
populations in the two countries. In the autumn of 1989, intensified
inter-ethnic conflict in and around Nagorno-Karabakh prodded the
Soviet government into granting Azerbaijani authorities greater
leeway in controlling the region. On November 29, 1989 direct rule
in Nagorno-Karabakh was ended and Azerbaijan regained control of the
region. However later a joint session of the Armenian parliament and
the top legislative body of Nagorno-Karabakh proclaimed the unification
of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.
On December 10, 1991, Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh held a referendum,
boycotted by local Azeris, that approved the creation of an independent
state.
The struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh escalated after both Armenia and
Azerbaijan obtained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. By
the end of 1993, the conflict had caused thousands of casualties and
created hundreds of thousands of refugees on both sides. An unofficial
ceasefire was reached on May 12, 1994.
Despite the ceasefire, fatalities due to armed conflicts between
Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers continued. As of August, 2008, the
United States, France, and Russia (the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk
Group) were attempting to negotiate a full settlement of the conflict,
proposing a referendum on the status of the area, which culminated
in Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh
Sargsyan travelling to Moscow for talks with Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev on 2 November 2008. As a result, the three presidents signed
an agreement that calls for talks on a political settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.