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MEDIATORS URGE FINAL PUSH FOR KARABAKH PEACE
By Emil Danielyan and Ruzanna Stepanian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 26 2006
International mediators urged Armenia and Azerbaijan on Thursday
to take the final step towards a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, saying that a framework peace accord is now within their
reach.
High-level diplomats from France, Russia and the United States made
the appeal as they wrapped up an extraordinary joint visit to Baku
and Yerevan which produced agreement on the next Armenian-Azerbaijani
summit on Karabakh. A spokesman for President Robert Kocharian told
RFE/RL that the Armenian leader and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham
Aliev, will meet on the sidelines of a summit of Black Sea nations
which is scheduled to take place in Romania's capital Bucharest on
June 5.
In a joint statement read out to the media after their talks with
Kocharian, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, Russian
Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and a top French diplomat,
Pierre Morel, indicated that they expect that meeting to yield a
breakthrough in the prolonged peace process. They stressed that "now
is the time for the sides to reach agreement on the basic principles
of a settlement."
The decision by the three men to accompany lower-level American,
French and Russian diplomats co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group on
their latest round of shuttle diplomacy is quite significant in
itself. The three mediating powers seem to be making a last-ditch
attempt to secure a Karabakh peace deal before the end of this year.
They have warned that their failure to do so would delay a settlement
until after presidential elections due in Azerbaijan and Armenia in
2007 and 2008.
"A joint mission such as this one is a special event," Fried,
Karasin and Morel said in their statement. "It must be taken as
a sign of the seriousness with which we approach the issue and,
in particular, a belief that we are at the point where a mutually
beneficial agreement is achievable. What happens now will up be up
to Armenia and Azerbaijan."
"We leave with hopes and expectations of progress," they added.
The three officials, who refused to answer any questions from
journalists, described as "constructive" their meetings with Kocharian
and Aliev which took place on Thursday and Wednesday respectively. But
they as well as the press services of the Armenian and Azerbaijani
did not divulge any details of the talks.
The mediators had hoped that Aliev and Kocharian will cut a framework
agreement during their last meeting at the Rambouillet castle near
Paris in February. However, the two leaders failed to live up to those
expectations despite indications that the conflicting parties agreed
in principle to a deal that would enable Karabakh's predominantly
Armenian population to decide the disputed region's status in a
referendum. The vote would reportedly take place within 10 to 15
years from the start of Armenian withdrawal from six of the seven
Azerbaijani districts surrounding Karabakh.
Following the Rambouillet summit the mediators presented the parties
with what they described as new peace proposals designed to end the
impasse. But as Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov
implied on Wednesday, the peace formula that was discussed at
Rambouillet essentially remains on the table. The Azerbaijani news
agency Trend quoted him as saying that the ideas suggested by the
Minsk Group co-chairs are not quite new.
"With such statements the co-chairs simply want to increase the
significance of their activities in the eyes of the public," Azimov
said.
By Emil Danielyan and Ruzanna Stepanian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 26 2006
International mediators urged Armenia and Azerbaijan on Thursday
to take the final step towards a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict, saying that a framework peace accord is now within their
reach.
High-level diplomats from France, Russia and the United States made
the appeal as they wrapped up an extraordinary joint visit to Baku
and Yerevan which produced agreement on the next Armenian-Azerbaijani
summit on Karabakh. A spokesman for President Robert Kocharian told
RFE/RL that the Armenian leader and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham
Aliev, will meet on the sidelines of a summit of Black Sea nations
which is scheduled to take place in Romania's capital Bucharest on
June 5.
In a joint statement read out to the media after their talks with
Kocharian, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, Russian
Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and a top French diplomat,
Pierre Morel, indicated that they expect that meeting to yield a
breakthrough in the prolonged peace process. They stressed that "now
is the time for the sides to reach agreement on the basic principles
of a settlement."
The decision by the three men to accompany lower-level American,
French and Russian diplomats co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group on
their latest round of shuttle diplomacy is quite significant in
itself. The three mediating powers seem to be making a last-ditch
attempt to secure a Karabakh peace deal before the end of this year.
They have warned that their failure to do so would delay a settlement
until after presidential elections due in Azerbaijan and Armenia in
2007 and 2008.
"A joint mission such as this one is a special event," Fried,
Karasin and Morel said in their statement. "It must be taken as
a sign of the seriousness with which we approach the issue and,
in particular, a belief that we are at the point where a mutually
beneficial agreement is achievable. What happens now will up be up
to Armenia and Azerbaijan."
"We leave with hopes and expectations of progress," they added.
The three officials, who refused to answer any questions from
journalists, described as "constructive" their meetings with Kocharian
and Aliev which took place on Thursday and Wednesday respectively. But
they as well as the press services of the Armenian and Azerbaijani
did not divulge any details of the talks.
The mediators had hoped that Aliev and Kocharian will cut a framework
agreement during their last meeting at the Rambouillet castle near
Paris in February. However, the two leaders failed to live up to those
expectations despite indications that the conflicting parties agreed
in principle to a deal that would enable Karabakh's predominantly
Armenian population to decide the disputed region's status in a
referendum. The vote would reportedly take place within 10 to 15
years from the start of Armenian withdrawal from six of the seven
Azerbaijani districts surrounding Karabakh.
Following the Rambouillet summit the mediators presented the parties
with what they described as new peace proposals designed to end the
impasse. But as Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov
implied on Wednesday, the peace formula that was discussed at
Rambouillet essentially remains on the table. The Azerbaijani news
agency Trend quoted him as saying that the ideas suggested by the
Minsk Group co-chairs are not quite new.
"With such statements the co-chairs simply want to increase the
significance of their activities in the eyes of the public," Azimov
said.