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AZERBAIJAN CONFIRMS, REJECTS NEW KARABAKH PEACE PLAN
Emil Danielyan
http://www.armenialiberty.org/content/article/2106977.html
22.07.2010
Azerbaijan -- President Ilham Aliyev presides over a Cabinet meeting,
13Jul2010
After repeated denials, Azerbaijan on Thursday confirmed Armenian
claims that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev presented his
Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts with a new plan to end the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at their meeting in Saint Petersburg
last month.
Elkhan Polukhov, a spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry,
was reported to say that the "working proposals," which have been
essentially welcomed by Yerevan, are unacceptable to Baku. Unlike
Armenian leaders, he claimed that Russia drafted them single-handedly
without consulting with the United States and France, the two other
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
"Those working proposals were prepared only by one party, and the Minsk
Group format was thus not observed," Polukhov told the Day.az news
service. "In essence, the proposals that were made in Saint Petersburg
[on June 17] change the whole philosophy of the negotiating process."
"They thereby cause damage to the work that has been done in the last
six years and to the shaky structure that has been built during those
six years," he said.
Armenia's President Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian have described Medvedev's proposals as a "new version" of
the basic principles of the conflict's resolution which the mediators
had first formally proposed in Madrid in 2007.
Other government figures in Yerevan have claimed that Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev cut short his visit to the Russian city and
ordered his troops to attack a Karabakh Armenian army outpost the
next day to demonstrate his frustration with the latest turn in the
negotiating process.
"Only various approaches were discussed in Saint Petersburg," Polukhov
said on July 5. He insisted the ongoing peace talks continue to center
on another version of the Madrid principles that was submitted to
the conflicting parties. Azerbaijan claims to have largely accepted it.
The mediating powers have so far declined to explicitly confirm
that what Aliyev and Sarkisian received in Saint Petersburg is the
Minsk Group's newly modified peace plan. But in a joint statement
with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov issued on Saturday,
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and U.S. Deputy Secretary
of State James Steinberg did praise Medvedev's efforts to "bridge
the differences between the parties."
The statement was issued immediately after the apparent collapse of
negotiations between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers
held in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The mediators had hoped that the talks will
mark decisive progress towards the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani
framework peace accord.
Armenia -- President Serzh Sarkisian visits Miasin youth camp,
21Jul2010
Sarkisian said late on Wednesday that the peace process will remain
deadlocked unless Azerbaijan follows Armenia's example and accepts the
Saint Petersburg proposals as "a basis for negotiations." "There is
only one question today: Does the Azerbaijani side accept the latest
proposals by the Minsk Group co-chairs or not?" he told members of
an Armenian pro-government youth organization.
"When Azerbaijan says that it accepts, we will continue negotiations.
If it says it doesn't accept, then we will probably have to look for
other solutions," he added.
There have been indications that Baku is now unhappy with not only
Russia but the United States and France. In a series of interviews
with Day.az this week, several pro-government members of Azerbaijan's
parliament have accused all three mediating powers of pro-Armenian
bias.
One of them, Fazail Agamaly, claimed that Baku is now dealing with an
"anti-Azerbaijani coalition" formed by Washington, Moscow and Paris.
"The limit of trust in the Minsk Group co-chairs has long been
exhausted," he said.
"Despite all their efforts to give their activities a shroud of
objectivity, the co-chairs have adopted an anti-Azerbaijani position,"
charged another lawmaker, Fazil Mustafa. Azerbaijan should therefore
pursue a "tougher policy towards both Armenia and the mediators,"
said Mustafa.
In what may have been a related development, Aliyev on Thursday
bestowed the title of "national hero" on Mubariz Ibrahimov, an
Azerbaijani soldier killed in the June 18-19 firefight with Armenian
forces in northern Karabakh. He also ordered his government to name
a school and a street in Ibrahimov's native Bilyasuvar district after
the soldier.
Ibrahimov was shot dead in Armenian-controlled territory, a
fact presented by Karabakh and Armenia as further proof that the
fighting, which also left four Armenian soldiers dead, was provoked
by Azerbaijani forces. The Karabakh Armenian military has still not
handed back his body.
From: A. Papazian
Emil Danielyan
http://www.armenialiberty.org/content/article/2106977.html
22.07.2010
Azerbaijan -- President Ilham Aliyev presides over a Cabinet meeting,
13Jul2010
After repeated denials, Azerbaijan on Thursday confirmed Armenian
claims that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev presented his
Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts with a new plan to end the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at their meeting in Saint Petersburg
last month.
Elkhan Polukhov, a spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry,
was reported to say that the "working proposals," which have been
essentially welcomed by Yerevan, are unacceptable to Baku. Unlike
Armenian leaders, he claimed that Russia drafted them single-handedly
without consulting with the United States and France, the two other
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
"Those working proposals were prepared only by one party, and the Minsk
Group format was thus not observed," Polukhov told the Day.az news
service. "In essence, the proposals that were made in Saint Petersburg
[on June 17] change the whole philosophy of the negotiating process."
"They thereby cause damage to the work that has been done in the last
six years and to the shaky structure that has been built during those
six years," he said.
Armenia's President Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian have described Medvedev's proposals as a "new version" of
the basic principles of the conflict's resolution which the mediators
had first formally proposed in Madrid in 2007.
Other government figures in Yerevan have claimed that Azerbaijani
President Ilham Aliyev cut short his visit to the Russian city and
ordered his troops to attack a Karabakh Armenian army outpost the
next day to demonstrate his frustration with the latest turn in the
negotiating process.
"Only various approaches were discussed in Saint Petersburg," Polukhov
said on July 5. He insisted the ongoing peace talks continue to center
on another version of the Madrid principles that was submitted to
the conflicting parties. Azerbaijan claims to have largely accepted it.
The mediating powers have so far declined to explicitly confirm
that what Aliyev and Sarkisian received in Saint Petersburg is the
Minsk Group's newly modified peace plan. But in a joint statement
with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov issued on Saturday,
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and U.S. Deputy Secretary
of State James Steinberg did praise Medvedev's efforts to "bridge
the differences between the parties."
The statement was issued immediately after the apparent collapse of
negotiations between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers
held in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The mediators had hoped that the talks will
mark decisive progress towards the signing of an Armenian-Azerbaijani
framework peace accord.
Armenia -- President Serzh Sarkisian visits Miasin youth camp,
21Jul2010
Sarkisian said late on Wednesday that the peace process will remain
deadlocked unless Azerbaijan follows Armenia's example and accepts the
Saint Petersburg proposals as "a basis for negotiations." "There is
only one question today: Does the Azerbaijani side accept the latest
proposals by the Minsk Group co-chairs or not?" he told members of
an Armenian pro-government youth organization.
"When Azerbaijan says that it accepts, we will continue negotiations.
If it says it doesn't accept, then we will probably have to look for
other solutions," he added.
There have been indications that Baku is now unhappy with not only
Russia but the United States and France. In a series of interviews
with Day.az this week, several pro-government members of Azerbaijan's
parliament have accused all three mediating powers of pro-Armenian
bias.
One of them, Fazail Agamaly, claimed that Baku is now dealing with an
"anti-Azerbaijani coalition" formed by Washington, Moscow and Paris.
"The limit of trust in the Minsk Group co-chairs has long been
exhausted," he said.
"Despite all their efforts to give their activities a shroud of
objectivity, the co-chairs have adopted an anti-Azerbaijani position,"
charged another lawmaker, Fazil Mustafa. Azerbaijan should therefore
pursue a "tougher policy towards both Armenia and the mediators,"
said Mustafa.
In what may have been a related development, Aliyev on Thursday
bestowed the title of "national hero" on Mubariz Ibrahimov, an
Azerbaijani soldier killed in the June 18-19 firefight with Armenian
forces in northern Karabakh. He also ordered his government to name
a school and a street in Ibrahimov's native Bilyasuvar district after
the soldier.
Ibrahimov was shot dead in Armenian-controlled territory, a
fact presented by Karabakh and Armenia as further proof that the
fighting, which also left four Armenian soldiers dead, was provoked
by Azerbaijani forces. The Karabakh Armenian military has still not
handed back his body.
From: A. Papazian