Tweet
KARABAKH MEDIATORS PUSH FOR NEW ARMENIAN-AZERI SUMMIT
Radio Liberty
March 20 2008
Czech Republic
International mediators urged the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan
late Wednesday to resume "as soon as possible" negotiations on the
basic principles of a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement that were formally
submitted to the conflicting parties last November.
In a joint statesmen, the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group said they pressed for the holding of a fresh
Armenian-Azerbaijani summit on Karabakh during separate meetings last
week with the foreign ministers of the two countries. They said both
sides agreed to such a summit "in principle." The statement did not
specify when and where it might take place.
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said earlier this month that
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev and his newly elected Armenian
counterpart, Serzh Sarkisian, could meet on the sidelines of the NATO
summit that will take place in Bucharest on April 3-4.
Oskanian said nothing about such a meeting as he commented on the
Karabakh peace process in Armenia's parliament on Wednesday. He spoke
instead about Azerbaijan's reported demands for the dissolution
of the Minsk Group and a radical change in the format of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. He said Baku has been emboldened
by the passage late last week of a UN General Assembly resolution
that upheld Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh and demanded an
"unconditional" Armenian withdrawal from occupied Azerbaijani
territories.
Aliev on Thursday touted the resolution as a "big diplomatic victory"
for Azerbaijan." According to the APA news agency, he also said that
Azerbaijan's territorial integrity can not be a subject of negotiations
with the Armenians.
Armenia's outgoing President Robert Kocharian, meanwhile, said
Yerevan should formally recognize the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic as an independent state if Baku pulls out of the Minsk Group
process. "At least, that's what I would do," he told reporters.
"We can't have a better format," Kocharian said of the Minsk Group.
"But that doesn't mean that if Azerbaijan doesn't want to negotiate,
we will cling to [that format.] They don't want to? No problem. But
they must at the same time think about who will bears responsibility
for further developments."
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin also spoke out against
any changes in the negotiation format "Any change in format would
bring a sense of uncertainty and an expectation of something new,"
he said after meeting Kocharian and Sarkisian in Yerevan. "I think
that is hardly appropriate in delicate and sensitive processes like
a peaceful settlement."
Radio Liberty
March 20 2008
Czech Republic
International mediators urged the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan
late Wednesday to resume "as soon as possible" negotiations on the
basic principles of a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement that were formally
submitted to the conflicting parties last November.
In a joint statesmen, the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of
the OSCE Minsk Group said they pressed for the holding of a fresh
Armenian-Azerbaijani summit on Karabakh during separate meetings last
week with the foreign ministers of the two countries. They said both
sides agreed to such a summit "in principle." The statement did not
specify when and where it might take place.
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said earlier this month that
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev and his newly elected Armenian
counterpart, Serzh Sarkisian, could meet on the sidelines of the NATO
summit that will take place in Bucharest on April 3-4.
Oskanian said nothing about such a meeting as he commented on the
Karabakh peace process in Armenia's parliament on Wednesday. He spoke
instead about Azerbaijan's reported demands for the dissolution
of the Minsk Group and a radical change in the format of the
Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. He said Baku has been emboldened
by the passage late last week of a UN General Assembly resolution
that upheld Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh and demanded an
"unconditional" Armenian withdrawal from occupied Azerbaijani
territories.
Aliev on Thursday touted the resolution as a "big diplomatic victory"
for Azerbaijan." According to the APA news agency, he also said that
Azerbaijan's territorial integrity can not be a subject of negotiations
with the Armenians.
Armenia's outgoing President Robert Kocharian, meanwhile, said
Yerevan should formally recognize the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic as an independent state if Baku pulls out of the Minsk Group
process. "At least, that's what I would do," he told reporters.
"We can't have a better format," Kocharian said of the Minsk Group.
"But that doesn't mean that if Azerbaijan doesn't want to negotiate,
we will cling to [that format.] They don't want to? No problem. But
they must at the same time think about who will bears responsibility
for further developments."
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin also spoke out against
any changes in the negotiation format "Any change in format would
bring a sense of uncertainty and an expectation of something new,"
he said after meeting Kocharian and Sarkisian in Yerevan. "I think
that is hardly appropriate in delicate and sensitive processes like
a peaceful settlement."