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KERRY HINTS AT 'PATH FORWARD' IN KARABAKH CONFLICT
Tengri News, Kazakhstan
June 4 2013
US Secretary of State John Kerry hinted Monday at a possible way
forward in another of the world's "frozen conflicts," saying Washington
still aimed to help end the Nagorny-Karabakh dispute, AFP reports.
Meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov, Kerry
briefly refocused his peace-making ambitions away from the Middle
East towards the disputed enclave run by Armenia-backed separatists.
"This is a frozen conflict, as we call it -- one that threatens the
stability of the region and one that we need to deal with," Kerry
said. "The last thing we want is a return to war and to conflict."
Armenia and Azerbaijan remain locked in a stand-off over the enclave,
which ethnic Armenian forces seized during a war in the early 1990s
that killed nearly 30,000 people and forced another million to flee
their homes.
"I believe there is a path forward and we will continue to work
quietly and patiently in an effort to try to encourage the parties
to be able to take either confidence-building measures that may get
you further down the road, or to find a way towards a settlement,"
the top US diplomat said.
He stressed that both sides "have been close before, and at the
last minute things have happened that have denied everybody that
opportunity."
Mammadyarov said that with Washington's help, Baku believed it could
"successfully move forward" on many challenges "including one of
the biggest problems, the resolution with the neighbor, Armenia,
with whom we are definitely interested to live in peace, with dignity."
Speaking in English, the Azerbaijani minister said his country wanted
to leave the "negative outcome of the conflict... in the past. And
we'll look to the bright future of successful cooperation living next
to each other as a good neighborhood."
But no final peace deal has been signed since a 1994 ceasefire, and
flush with petrodollars, oil-rich Azerbaijan has threatened to take
back the disputed region by force if negotiations do not yield results.
Armenia in turn has vowed massive retaliation against any military
action.
Frequent clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops along their
border and in Nagorny-Karabakh -- with 15 people reportedly killed
last year from both sides -- highlight the risk of a fresh conflict
between the arch-foes.
Kerry was also due to meet with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian on Tuesday, but State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki
said there was no new US initiative in the pipeline.
http://en.tengrinews.kz/politics_sub/Kerry-hints-at-path-forward-in-Karabakh-conflict--19952/
Tengri News, Kazakhstan
June 4 2013
US Secretary of State John Kerry hinted Monday at a possible way
forward in another of the world's "frozen conflicts," saying Washington
still aimed to help end the Nagorny-Karabakh dispute, AFP reports.
Meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov, Kerry
briefly refocused his peace-making ambitions away from the Middle
East towards the disputed enclave run by Armenia-backed separatists.
"This is a frozen conflict, as we call it -- one that threatens the
stability of the region and one that we need to deal with," Kerry
said. "The last thing we want is a return to war and to conflict."
Armenia and Azerbaijan remain locked in a stand-off over the enclave,
which ethnic Armenian forces seized during a war in the early 1990s
that killed nearly 30,000 people and forced another million to flee
their homes.
"I believe there is a path forward and we will continue to work
quietly and patiently in an effort to try to encourage the parties
to be able to take either confidence-building measures that may get
you further down the road, or to find a way towards a settlement,"
the top US diplomat said.
He stressed that both sides "have been close before, and at the
last minute things have happened that have denied everybody that
opportunity."
Mammadyarov said that with Washington's help, Baku believed it could
"successfully move forward" on many challenges "including one of
the biggest problems, the resolution with the neighbor, Armenia,
with whom we are definitely interested to live in peace, with dignity."
Speaking in English, the Azerbaijani minister said his country wanted
to leave the "negative outcome of the conflict... in the past. And
we'll look to the bright future of successful cooperation living next
to each other as a good neighborhood."
But no final peace deal has been signed since a 1994 ceasefire, and
flush with petrodollars, oil-rich Azerbaijan has threatened to take
back the disputed region by force if negotiations do not yield results.
Armenia in turn has vowed massive retaliation against any military
action.
Frequent clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops along their
border and in Nagorny-Karabakh -- with 15 people reportedly killed
last year from both sides -- highlight the risk of a fresh conflict
between the arch-foes.
Kerry was also due to meet with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward
Nalbandian on Tuesday, but State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki
said there was no new US initiative in the pipeline.
http://en.tengrinews.kz/politics_sub/Kerry-hints-at-path-forward-in-Karabakh-conflict--19952/