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ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN TALKS PRODUCE LITTLE PROGRESS
LYNN BERRY
Associated Press
MANSUR MIROVALEV
Friday, June 24, 2011
MOSCOW (AP) - The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan failed on
Friday to approve a set of basic principles for a peaceful settlement
to their long-standing dispute over the breakaway territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh, despite U.S. and Russian efforts to mediate the
conflict in the strategic Caucasus region.
The war over the predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave inside
Azerbaijan ended in 1994 leaving 30,000 dead and more than 1 million
displaced. Since then, talks to resolve one of the most worrisome
"frozen conflicts" in the former Soviet Union have dragged on with
the enclave controlled by Armenian and separatist forces.
Hopes were high for Friday's Kremlin-hosted talks in the Volga River
city of Kazan on approving the set of basic principles, but after
three hours of talks the parties reported little progress.
Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev and Armenia's President Serge Sarkisian said
they "reached an understanding on a number of issues" but provided
no details.
Both leaders face fierce domestic pressure not to compromise, but their
countries also have been eager to overcome the consequences of the war.
President Barack Obama spoke to the leaders by telephone on Thursday
and urged them to endorse the basic principles and take a "decisive
step toward a peaceful settlement."
Ambassador Robert Bradtke, the U.S. diplomat involved in international
efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, described the
talks as "probably the most important point in the process since 2001,
when there were efforts made to get a peace agreement at Key West."
Both separatist and Azeri governments report sporadic skirmishes and
shootings of each other's servicemen on the border.
Azerbaijan, an energy-rich, predominantly Muslim country on the Caspian
Sea, has struggled to cope with the hundreds of thousands of people
driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas that also fell
under Armenian control.
Impoverished, landlocked and mostly Christian Armenia has been hurt
economically by Turkey's closing of the border in 1993 in support
of Azerbaijan. Turkey shares close ethnic and linguistic ties with
Azeris. An agreement between Turkey and Armenia in 2009 intended
to open the way to diplomatic ties and the reopening of the border
foundered over Turkey's demand that Armenian troops withdraw from
Nagorno-Karabakh.
In the Communist era, Nagorno-Karabakh was an autonomous region within
Soviet Azerbaijan. Nagorno-Karabakh is a Russian-Turkish term that
means "mountainous black garden." Ethnic Armenians that now account
for virtually the entire population, call the region Artsakh.
Before becoming part of czarist Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan had
long been dominated by Iran and Ottoman Turkey.
LYNN BERRY
Associated Press
MANSUR MIROVALEV
Friday, June 24, 2011
MOSCOW (AP) - The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan failed on
Friday to approve a set of basic principles for a peaceful settlement
to their long-standing dispute over the breakaway territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh, despite U.S. and Russian efforts to mediate the
conflict in the strategic Caucasus region.
The war over the predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave inside
Azerbaijan ended in 1994 leaving 30,000 dead and more than 1 million
displaced. Since then, talks to resolve one of the most worrisome
"frozen conflicts" in the former Soviet Union have dragged on with
the enclave controlled by Armenian and separatist forces.
Hopes were high for Friday's Kremlin-hosted talks in the Volga River
city of Kazan on approving the set of basic principles, but after
three hours of talks the parties reported little progress.
Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev and Armenia's President Serge Sarkisian said
they "reached an understanding on a number of issues" but provided
no details.
Both leaders face fierce domestic pressure not to compromise, but their
countries also have been eager to overcome the consequences of the war.
President Barack Obama spoke to the leaders by telephone on Thursday
and urged them to endorse the basic principles and take a "decisive
step toward a peaceful settlement."
Ambassador Robert Bradtke, the U.S. diplomat involved in international
efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, described the
talks as "probably the most important point in the process since 2001,
when there were efforts made to get a peace agreement at Key West."
Both separatist and Azeri governments report sporadic skirmishes and
shootings of each other's servicemen on the border.
Azerbaijan, an energy-rich, predominantly Muslim country on the Caspian
Sea, has struggled to cope with the hundreds of thousands of people
driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas that also fell
under Armenian control.
Impoverished, landlocked and mostly Christian Armenia has been hurt
economically by Turkey's closing of the border in 1993 in support
of Azerbaijan. Turkey shares close ethnic and linguistic ties with
Azeris. An agreement between Turkey and Armenia in 2009 intended
to open the way to diplomatic ties and the reopening of the border
foundered over Turkey's demand that Armenian troops withdraw from
Nagorno-Karabakh.
In the Communist era, Nagorno-Karabakh was an autonomous region within
Soviet Azerbaijan. Nagorno-Karabakh is a Russian-Turkish term that
means "mountainous black garden." Ethnic Armenians that now account
for virtually the entire population, call the region Artsakh.
Before becoming part of czarist Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan had
long been dominated by Iran and Ottoman Turkey.