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Armenia, Azerbaijan should make concessions on territory -OSCE chief

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  • Armenia, Azerbaijan should make concessions on territory -OSCE chief

    RIA Novosti

    July 17, 2009 Friday 5:37 PM GMT+3

    Armenia, Azerbaijan should make concessions on territory - OSCE chief

    LENGTH: 362 words

    DATELINE: BAKU July 17


    The OSCE secretary general said on Friday that Armenia and Azerbaijan
    should make concessions based on the principles set out by the Minsk
    Group to settle the Nagorny Karabakh conflict.

    The co-chairs of the Minsk Group, the United States, Russia and
    France, which are mediating the territorial dispute between Baku and
    Yerevan, said during the G8 meeting in L'Aquila earlier this month
    they would submit a revised set of proposals on the disputed region of
    Nagorny Karabakh to Armenia and Azerbaijan.

    "The principles declared in L'Aquila by leaders of the states
    co-chairing the OSCE's Minsk Group should be acceptable to both
    parties in the conflict, and they should move towards rapprochement on
    the basis of these principles," Marc Perrin de Brichambaut said at a
    news conference in Baku.

    "I believe today's Moscow meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian
    presidents, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, is an important step," he
    added.

    The presidents were to hold bilateral talks in Moscow on Friday before
    trilateral discussions including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on
    Saturday.

    Nagorny Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan with a largely Armenian
    population, has been a source of conflict between the former Soviet
    republics since the late 1980s. The province has its own government
    and is de facto independent.

    According to the Minsk Group, Azerbaijan and Armenia must come to an
    agreement on the disputed territory of Nagorny Karabakh on the basis
    of the Madrid 2007 agreement.

    The group also unveiled new principles for settling the dispute,
    including defining Nargorny Karabakh's status in regard to freedom of
    movement with Armenia, as well as road and rail links between the
    two. The group also said that security in the area be guaranteed and
    troops should be withdrawn.

    A war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the mountainous enclave in
    1988-1994 left an estimated 35,000 people dead. Sporadic violence on
    the border has continued ever since.

    Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh
    Sargsyan met in Prague last month to discuss the conflict, on the
    sidelines of the EU's Eastern Partnership summit, and said some
    progress had been reached.
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