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EXPERT: CURRENT YEAR MAY BE CRUCIAL FOR NAGORNO-KARABAKH PROCESS
Trend News Agency
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
June 1, 2011 Wednesday
Baku, Azerbaijan
June 01--JUNE 1 / , Azerbaijan, Baku -- The current year may be crucial
for the Nagorno-Karabakh process, the expert at the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace, English journalist and author of the book
"Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War" Thomas
de Waal said.
"I believe the announcement by the three presidents in Deauville was
the most significant declaration on the Karabakh conflict for many
years", he told Trend.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will meet in Kazan in late June.
This will be the ninth tripartite meeting between the presidents of
Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia.
The meeting held in Sochi on March 5 was the eighth tripartite meeting
of the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia.
Astrakhan hosted a trilateral meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Russia -- Ilham Aliyev, Dmitry Medvedev and Serzh Sargsyan
on Oct. 27. The parties signed a declaration envisaging the return
of POWs. It is of humanitarian nature.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group -- Russia, France, and the U.S. --
are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.
The Basic Principles document has now been under discussion for more
than five years and, as the presidents say, continued delay over
agreeing on a short framework agreement raises questions as to whether
the presidents are genuinely committed to a peaceful deal for Karabakh,
he said.
Russia, France and the United States obviously believe that the time
has come to move forward, the expert said. Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev, U.S President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas
Sarkozy called on the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to demonstrate
the political will and to finalize the basic principles [the settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh] during the upcoming Armenian-Azerbaijani
summit in June.
This year could be crucial while there is agreement among the three
big nations and before an election cycle begins," he said.
Trend News Agency
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
June 1, 2011 Wednesday
Baku, Azerbaijan
June 01--JUNE 1 / , Azerbaijan, Baku -- The current year may be crucial
for the Nagorno-Karabakh process, the expert at the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace, English journalist and author of the book
"Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War" Thomas
de Waal said.
"I believe the announcement by the three presidents in Deauville was
the most significant declaration on the Karabakh conflict for many
years", he told Trend.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan will meet in Kazan in late June.
This will be the ninth tripartite meeting between the presidents of
Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia.
The meeting held in Sochi on March 5 was the eighth tripartite meeting
of the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia.
Astrakhan hosted a trilateral meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Russia -- Ilham Aliyev, Dmitry Medvedev and Serzh Sargsyan
on Oct. 27. The parties signed a declaration envisaging the return
of POWs. It is of humanitarian nature.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988
when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian
armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan since 1992,
including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and 7 surrounding districts.
Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group -- Russia, France, and the U.S. --
are currently holding the peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.
The Basic Principles document has now been under discussion for more
than five years and, as the presidents say, continued delay over
agreeing on a short framework agreement raises questions as to whether
the presidents are genuinely committed to a peaceful deal for Karabakh,
he said.
Russia, France and the United States obviously believe that the time
has come to move forward, the expert said. Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev, U.S President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas
Sarkozy called on the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to demonstrate
the political will and to finalize the basic principles [the settlement
of the Nagorno-Karabakh] during the upcoming Armenian-Azerbaijani
summit in June.
This year could be crucial while there is agreement among the three
big nations and before an election cycle begins," he said.