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INVITATION TO PEACE
by Alexander Gabuyev
DEFENSE and SECURITY
June 27, 2011 Monday
Russia
[translated from Russian]
DMITRY MEDVEDEV IS PROMOTING AZERBAIJANI-ARMENIAN RECONCILIATION; Is
settlement of the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh
finally within reach?
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arranged a meeting of his Azerbaijani
and Armenian opposite numbers Ilham Aliyev and Serj Sargsjan in Kazan,
today. A breakthrough in the old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh might
finally be achieved. What information is available to this newspaper
indicates that a Road Map plan charted for the meeting offers a
solution to the problem. The plan is based on the so called Madrid
Principles principles formulated by the OSCE but turned down by both
Baku and Yerevan. If achieved, this breakthrough will become one of
Medvedev's most outstanding foreign political accomplishments. An
armed provocation in Nagorno-Karabakh itself is the only thing that
might thwart it.
"We've never been so close to success," said a Russian diplomat who
participated in preparation of the summit. The Russian Foreign Ministry
made a statement yesterday where the forthcoming meeting was called
"a milestone in the Karabakh conflict settlement". Said an insider,
"The document drawn for the signing will provide a real foundation
for peace." It should be noted that the OSCE Secretary General Marc
Perrin de Brichambaut, EP President Jerzy Buzek, PACE President
Mevlut Cavusoglu, and Marc Toner of the U.S. Department of State made
analogous statements.
According to a Western diplomat, the document in question demands
unconditional acceptance of the Madrid Principles from Azerbaijan and
Armenia. These principles were formulated in the document OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairmen (representing Russia, France, and the United States)
adopted at the OSCE summit in Madrid in December 2007. Until now, Baku
was prepared to accept only some principles and Yerevan, some others.
This is the first time the international community managed to convince
the warring sides to accept the Madrid Principles in toto. Insiders
claim that it happened at the meeting in Sochi this March.
Signing of the document in Kazan later today will be a genuine
breakthrough, a giant step to establishment of peace in one of the
oldest conflicts on the territory of the erstwhile Soviet Union.
The Karabakh peace agreement will be of paramount importance for
Medvedev. The president of Russia set out to restore peace between
Azerbaijan and Armenia right after the war in Georgia. The West
condemned Moscow for the use of latent post-Soviet conflicts in its own
purposes so that Russia needed to show progress with the settlement of
at least one of these conflicts. It is known that Russia started by
trying to restore territorial integrity of Moldova but this problem
defied all efforts to solve it and Moscow turned its attention to
Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The president regards Karabakh conflict settlement as his personal
mission," said a senior functionary from the Kremlin. "Peace in
the Caucasus is in the interests of Russia. It follows that we will
continue our peacekeeping activities and efforts as long as it takes
to make this conflict history."
It is generally accepted that an armed provocation in Nagorno-Karabakh
itself is probably the only thing that might thwart the signing of
the document in Kazan at the last possible moment. "If shots are
fired again in Karabakh bare hours before the meeting in Kazan,
then all will go down the drain," said a source. "It happened when
the presidents were meeting in Sochi. They reached an agreement but
skirmishes in Karabakh invalidated everything."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
by Alexander Gabuyev
DEFENSE and SECURITY
June 27, 2011 Monday
Russia
[translated from Russian]
DMITRY MEDVEDEV IS PROMOTING AZERBAIJANI-ARMENIAN RECONCILIATION; Is
settlement of the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh
finally within reach?
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arranged a meeting of his Azerbaijani
and Armenian opposite numbers Ilham Aliyev and Serj Sargsjan in Kazan,
today. A breakthrough in the old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh might
finally be achieved. What information is available to this newspaper
indicates that a Road Map plan charted for the meeting offers a
solution to the problem. The plan is based on the so called Madrid
Principles principles formulated by the OSCE but turned down by both
Baku and Yerevan. If achieved, this breakthrough will become one of
Medvedev's most outstanding foreign political accomplishments. An
armed provocation in Nagorno-Karabakh itself is the only thing that
might thwart it.
"We've never been so close to success," said a Russian diplomat who
participated in preparation of the summit. The Russian Foreign Ministry
made a statement yesterday where the forthcoming meeting was called
"a milestone in the Karabakh conflict settlement". Said an insider,
"The document drawn for the signing will provide a real foundation
for peace." It should be noted that the OSCE Secretary General Marc
Perrin de Brichambaut, EP President Jerzy Buzek, PACE President
Mevlut Cavusoglu, and Marc Toner of the U.S. Department of State made
analogous statements.
According to a Western diplomat, the document in question demands
unconditional acceptance of the Madrid Principles from Azerbaijan and
Armenia. These principles were formulated in the document OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairmen (representing Russia, France, and the United States)
adopted at the OSCE summit in Madrid in December 2007. Until now, Baku
was prepared to accept only some principles and Yerevan, some others.
This is the first time the international community managed to convince
the warring sides to accept the Madrid Principles in toto. Insiders
claim that it happened at the meeting in Sochi this March.
Signing of the document in Kazan later today will be a genuine
breakthrough, a giant step to establishment of peace in one of the
oldest conflicts on the territory of the erstwhile Soviet Union.
The Karabakh peace agreement will be of paramount importance for
Medvedev. The president of Russia set out to restore peace between
Azerbaijan and Armenia right after the war in Georgia. The West
condemned Moscow for the use of latent post-Soviet conflicts in its own
purposes so that Russia needed to show progress with the settlement of
at least one of these conflicts. It is known that Russia started by
trying to restore territorial integrity of Moldova but this problem
defied all efforts to solve it and Moscow turned its attention to
Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The president regards Karabakh conflict settlement as his personal
mission," said a senior functionary from the Kremlin. "Peace in
the Caucasus is in the interests of Russia. It follows that we will
continue our peacekeeping activities and efforts as long as it takes
to make this conflict history."
It is generally accepted that an armed provocation in Nagorno-Karabakh
itself is probably the only thing that might thwart the signing of
the document in Kazan at the last possible moment. "If shots are
fired again in Karabakh bare hours before the meeting in Kazan,
then all will go down the drain," said a source. "It happened when
the presidents were meeting in Sochi. They reached an agreement but
skirmishes in Karabakh invalidated everything."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress