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The Daily Star, Lebanon
June 25 2011
Azerbaijan and Armenia fail to ink deal in talks
June 25, 2011 02:20 AM Agencies
MOSCOW/KAZAN, Russia: The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan failed
Friday to agree a framework document which would have set the stage
for a resolution of their two-decade conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia's Serzh Sarksyan held talks
in Russia on Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenian-backed forces wrested
from Azeri control in a deadliest war to break out as the Soviet Union
splintered apart two decades ago.
The two presidents and their Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said
in a statement after the talks that the sides `confirmed reaching a
mutual understanding on a wide range of issues whose resolution will
help create conditions for an approval of the Basic Principles.'
The Basic Principles is 14-point framework document that would set the
stage for talks on a peace settlement.
Russia and the U.S. had urged the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
prior to the meeting to endorse the Basic Principles as a way to start
resolving their dispute over the territory.
The predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan has been
under the control of Armenian soldiers and ethnic Armenian forces
since the two former Soviet republics fought a six-year war over the
territory that left 30,000 people dead and displaced more than 1
million people before fighting ended in 1994.
Talks to resolve the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh have dragged on
for more than a decade with little result.
`In order to achieve a solid result we first need to sit closer to one
another,' Medvedev said to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and
Armenian President Serge Sarkisian as they took their seats at a round
table at the start of the meeting in the Russian city of Kazan, the
ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
The White House said President Barack Obama spoke to the Azerbaijani
and Armenian leaders by telephone Thursday and urged them to endorse
the basic principles and take a `decisive step toward a peaceful
settlement.'
Aliyev and Sarkisian both face fierce domestic pressure not to
compromise, but their countries also have been eager to overcome the
consequences of the war.
Azerbaijan, an energy-rich 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 and landlocked Armenia has been hurt economically by
Turkey's closing of the border in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan. 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 call for the withdraw of Armenian troops from
Nagorno-Karabakh.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily
Star on June 25, 2011, on page 11.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/International/2011/Jun-25/Azerbaijan-and-Armenia-fail-to-ink-deal-in-talks.ashx#axzz1QFZtSTJN
June 25 2011
Azerbaijan and Armenia fail to ink deal in talks
June 25, 2011 02:20 AM Agencies
MOSCOW/KAZAN, Russia: The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan failed
Friday to agree a framework document which would have set the stage
for a resolution of their two-decade conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia's Serzh Sarksyan held talks
in Russia on Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenian-backed forces wrested
from Azeri control in a deadliest war to break out as the Soviet Union
splintered apart two decades ago.
The two presidents and their Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said
in a statement after the talks that the sides `confirmed reaching a
mutual understanding on a wide range of issues whose resolution will
help create conditions for an approval of the Basic Principles.'
The Basic Principles is 14-point framework document that would set the
stage for talks on a peace settlement.
Russia and the U.S. had urged the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
prior to the meeting to endorse the Basic Principles as a way to start
resolving their dispute over the territory.
The predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan has been
under the control of Armenian soldiers and ethnic Armenian forces
since the two former Soviet republics fought a six-year war over the
territory that left 30,000 people dead and displaced more than 1
million people before fighting ended in 1994.
Talks to resolve the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh have dragged on
for more than a decade with little result.
`In order to achieve a solid result we first need to sit closer to one
another,' Medvedev said to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and
Armenian President Serge Sarkisian as they took their seats at a round
table at the start of the meeting in the Russian city of Kazan, the
ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
The White House said President Barack Obama spoke to the Azerbaijani
and Armenian leaders by telephone Thursday and urged them to endorse
the basic principles and take a `decisive step toward a peaceful
settlement.'
Aliyev and Sarkisian both face fierce domestic pressure not to
compromise, but their countries also have been eager to overcome the
consequences of the war.
Azerbaijan, an energy-rich 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 and landlocked Armenia has been hurt economically by
Turkey's closing of the border in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan. 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 call for the withdraw of Armenian troops from
Nagorno-Karabakh.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily
Star on June 25, 2011, on page 11.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/International/2011/Jun-25/Azerbaijan-and-Armenia-fail-to-ink-deal-in-talks.ashx#axzz1QFZtSTJN