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KARABAKH MEDIATORS CALL FOR INCREASED TRUST
news.az
Oct 25 2011
Azerbaijan
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have called for an improved atmosphere
in Karabakh peace talks following their latest visit to the conflict
region.
The co-chairs (Ambassadors Bernard Fassier of France, Robert Bradtke
of the United States and Igor Popov of the Russian Federation) and
Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, personal representative of the OSCE
chairperson-in-office, travelled to Yerevan, Nagorno-Karabakh, and
Baku on 21 to 24 October.
They met Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev, and the de facto
authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The co-chairs stressed to the sides the need to improve significantly
the atmosphere of negotiations, increase trust and strengthen
implementation of the ceasefire to allow further progress toward
reaching a peaceful settlement," the mediators said in a statement,
published on the OSCE website.
"The co-chairs offered several proposals for measures to enhance
confidence in different fields. The sides agreed in principle on the
draft mechanism to investigate incidents along the front lines that
the co-chairs proposed in April, and which Presidents Aliyev, Sargsyan
and Medvedev agreed to pursue in their March joint statement in Sochi."
Confidence-building, including a mechanism to investigate incidents
along the contact line separating Armenian and Azerbaijani troops,
have become more pressing now that exchanges of fire along the contact
line are practically a daily occurrence. Three Azerbaijani soldiers
and one Armenian were killed in separate violations of the ceasefire
earlier in October, while one Azerbaijani civilian and two soldiers
on either side were wounded.
"On 22 October the co-chairs crossed the Line of Contact by foot for
the fourth time in the past 14 months. This crossing highlighted again
that the line is not a permanent barrier between neighbouring peoples,
and demonstrated that military coordination is possible when all the
sides are willing," the statement continued.
During their latest visit the mediators met the spiritual leaders in
Azerbaijan and Armenia.
"The co-chairs also met separately with His Holiness Garegin II,
supreme patriarch and catholicos of all Armenians, and with Sheykh
ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, grand mufti and chairman of the
Caucasus Muslim Board, to discuss the necessity of preparing the
populations for a just, lasting, and peaceful settlement," the
statement said.
The co-chairs are to return to the region in late November "to continue
their work with the sides to develop the measures described above and
to determine next steps to pave the way for future meetings between
the sides", the statement concluded.
The conflict began in 1988 when Armenia made claims on the Azerbaijani
territory of Karabakh. In a bitter war Armenian armed forces occupied
a swathe of Azerbaijani land, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region
and seven surrounding districts. Despite a ceasefire in 1994, no
long-term peace agreement has been reached.
The nub of the conflict remains unresolved - the competing claims of
territorial integrity, which Azerbaijan insists takes precedence in
the case of Karabakh, and self-determination, which Armenia wants to
see for the Armenians of Karabakh.
From: Baghdasarian
news.az
Oct 25 2011
Azerbaijan
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs have called for an improved atmosphere
in Karabakh peace talks following their latest visit to the conflict
region.
The co-chairs (Ambassadors Bernard Fassier of France, Robert Bradtke
of the United States and Igor Popov of the Russian Federation) and
Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, personal representative of the OSCE
chairperson-in-office, travelled to Yerevan, Nagorno-Karabakh, and
Baku on 21 to 24 October.
They met Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev, and the de facto
authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh.
"The co-chairs stressed to the sides the need to improve significantly
the atmosphere of negotiations, increase trust and strengthen
implementation of the ceasefire to allow further progress toward
reaching a peaceful settlement," the mediators said in a statement,
published on the OSCE website.
"The co-chairs offered several proposals for measures to enhance
confidence in different fields. The sides agreed in principle on the
draft mechanism to investigate incidents along the front lines that
the co-chairs proposed in April, and which Presidents Aliyev, Sargsyan
and Medvedev agreed to pursue in their March joint statement in Sochi."
Confidence-building, including a mechanism to investigate incidents
along the contact line separating Armenian and Azerbaijani troops,
have become more pressing now that exchanges of fire along the contact
line are practically a daily occurrence. Three Azerbaijani soldiers
and one Armenian were killed in separate violations of the ceasefire
earlier in October, while one Azerbaijani civilian and two soldiers
on either side were wounded.
"On 22 October the co-chairs crossed the Line of Contact by foot for
the fourth time in the past 14 months. This crossing highlighted again
that the line is not a permanent barrier between neighbouring peoples,
and demonstrated that military coordination is possible when all the
sides are willing," the statement continued.
During their latest visit the mediators met the spiritual leaders in
Azerbaijan and Armenia.
"The co-chairs also met separately with His Holiness Garegin II,
supreme patriarch and catholicos of all Armenians, and with Sheykh
ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, grand mufti and chairman of the
Caucasus Muslim Board, to discuss the necessity of preparing the
populations for a just, lasting, and peaceful settlement," the
statement said.
The co-chairs are to return to the region in late November "to continue
their work with the sides to develop the measures described above and
to determine next steps to pave the way for future meetings between
the sides", the statement concluded.
The conflict began in 1988 when Armenia made claims on the Azerbaijani
territory of Karabakh. In a bitter war Armenian armed forces occupied
a swathe of Azerbaijani land, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region
and seven surrounding districts. Despite a ceasefire in 1994, no
long-term peace agreement has been reached.
The nub of the conflict remains unresolved - the competing claims of
territorial integrity, which Azerbaijan insists takes precedence in
the case of Karabakh, and self-determination, which Armenia wants to
see for the Armenians of Karabakh.
From: Baghdasarian