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EU OFFICIAL URGES ARMENIAN EFFORTS TO AGREE ON PEACE OUTLINE
AzerNews. Azerbaijan
July 11 2013
11 July 2013, 14:40 (GMT+05:00)
By Nigar Orujova
The European Union is ready to continue facilitating a settlement
of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, EU Commissioner
for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule said in Yerevan
July 10.
Fule arrived in Yerevan on July 9. According to the EU mission in
Azerbaijan, he will not visit the Azerbaijani capital Baku.
Fule's meetings are planned with the Armenian leaders, including
President Serzh Sargsyan, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, as well
as the leaders of pro-government and opposition parties and civil
society representatives during the visit.
"We will continue to provide assistance to encourage progress in the
conflict settlement and to support related peace-building activities,"
he said.
Fule urged Armenia to step up efforts with Azerbaijan to reach an
agreement on the Madrid Principles, in accordance with the commitments
made by the presidents of the two countries within the Minsk Group.
"I know this is a painful and difficult subject, but it is one that the
European Union cannot hide from either in Baku or here, in Yerevan,"
Fule was quoted by Azerbaijan's state news agency AzerTac as saying.
Recently, a European Parliament delegation paid an official visit to
Azerbaijan and met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.
During the talks Mammadyarov expressed regret at the four relevant UN
Security Council resolutions' being unenforced, and said the present
status quo in the conflict is unacceptable.
Azerbaijan also urged OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Leonid Kozhara to
intensify the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group at a meeting of the
Foreign Minister with the OSCE chief on July 8.
Kozhara in turn expressed concern over the problem of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement and voiced support for the Minsk
Group's activity, adding that "we also consider it necessary to step
up its activity."
The Minsk Group, co-chaired by France, the United States and Russia,
has been mediating peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia since
the two South Caucasus republics signed a precarious cease-fire in
1994 following a lengthy war.
The Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial
claims against Azerbaijan. Armenia occupied over 20 percent
of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including
Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial
claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy
war in the early 1990s. The UN Security Council has adopted four
resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory,
but they have not been enforced to this day.
Peace talks are underway on the basis of the peace outline dubbed
the Madrid Principles, also known as Basic Principles. The document
envisions a return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh
to Azerbaijani control; determining the final legal status of
Nagorno-Karabakh; a corridor linking Armenia to the region; and the
right of all internally displaced persons to return home.
http://www.azernews.az/azerbaijan/56677.html
AzerNews. Azerbaijan
July 11 2013
11 July 2013, 14:40 (GMT+05:00)
By Nigar Orujova
The European Union is ready to continue facilitating a settlement
of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, EU Commissioner
for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Fule said in Yerevan
July 10.
Fule arrived in Yerevan on July 9. According to the EU mission in
Azerbaijan, he will not visit the Azerbaijani capital Baku.
Fule's meetings are planned with the Armenian leaders, including
President Serzh Sargsyan, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, as well
as the leaders of pro-government and opposition parties and civil
society representatives during the visit.
"We will continue to provide assistance to encourage progress in the
conflict settlement and to support related peace-building activities,"
he said.
Fule urged Armenia to step up efforts with Azerbaijan to reach an
agreement on the Madrid Principles, in accordance with the commitments
made by the presidents of the two countries within the Minsk Group.
"I know this is a painful and difficult subject, but it is one that the
European Union cannot hide from either in Baku or here, in Yerevan,"
Fule was quoted by Azerbaijan's state news agency AzerTac as saying.
Recently, a European Parliament delegation paid an official visit to
Azerbaijan and met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.
During the talks Mammadyarov expressed regret at the four relevant UN
Security Council resolutions' being unenforced, and said the present
status quo in the conflict is unacceptable.
Azerbaijan also urged OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Leonid Kozhara to
intensify the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group at a meeting of the
Foreign Minister with the OSCE chief on July 8.
Kozhara in turn expressed concern over the problem of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement and voiced support for the Minsk
Group's activity, adding that "we also consider it necessary to step
up its activity."
The Minsk Group, co-chaired by France, the United States and Russia,
has been mediating peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia since
the two South Caucasus republics signed a precarious cease-fire in
1994 following a lengthy war.
The Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial
claims against Azerbaijan. Armenia occupied over 20 percent
of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including
Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial
claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy
war in the early 1990s. The UN Security Council has adopted four
resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory,
but they have not been enforced to this day.
Peace talks are underway on the basis of the peace outline dubbed
the Madrid Principles, also known as Basic Principles. The document
envisions a return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh
to Azerbaijani control; determining the final legal status of
Nagorno-Karabakh; a corridor linking Armenia to the region; and the
right of all internally displaced persons to return home.
http://www.azernews.az/azerbaijan/56677.html