ITAR-TASS, Russia
June 28, 2014 Saturday 09:34 PM GMT+4

OSCE president calls for resumption of Azerbaijan-Armenia talks on Karabakh

BAKU June 28


- Swiss President and Chairperson-in-Office of the Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Didier Burkhalter said the
organisation should exert efforts towards resuming direct talks
between Azerbaijan and Armenia on Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.

He said this should be not an accidental meeting but one of the steps
towards solving the issue.

Burkhalter welcomed French President Francois Hollande's initiative to
organise a new round of talks between the presidents of Azerbaijan and
Armenia.

However, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan said Hollande's
offer to oganise a meeting between the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan in Paris was more than concrete and this did not agree with
Baku.

"During his visit to the region the president of France made more than
a concrete proposal, including in terms of substance, to organise a
meeting between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Paris.
Apparently this concrete offer goes against Baku's position and it
expects some other concrete proposal," he said earlier this week.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov said that Baku was
waiting for concrete proposals following up on Hollande's initiative
to organise a new meeting between the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan.

"For some reason, Azerbaijan constantly dislikes proposals put forth
on behalf of the international community by the co-chairs, including
those to strengthen the ceasefire regime, withdraw snipers and create
a mechanism for investigating incidents. It does not like proposals
made as one whole and contained in five statements of the presidents
of the five co-chair countries of the OSCE Minsk Group. There are
simply no concrete alternatives to proposals made by the co-chairs and
aimed solely at ensuring a peaceful resolution of the conflict,"
Nalbandyan said.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan earlier reiterated Armenia's
commitment to a speedy resolution of the conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh, a de facto independent but unrecognised state in
Azerbaijan populated mainly by Armenians, on the basis of
international law and join statements of the Minsk Group co-chairs.

"We firmly believe that a new war cannot resolve the conflict," Sargsyan said.

In his opinion, "confrontation will only lead to destabilisation,
provoke tensions and arms race, and further aggravate interstate
contradictions, foment ethnic and religious strife, and threatens the
security of other countries".

Sargsyan said that his country would do everything it can to resolve
the Nagorno-Karabakh issue peacefully.

"We will do everything we can to solve the Karabakh problem
peacefully," the president said.

"The [settlement] process is underway, and we are acting
constructively in this process," Sargsyan said.

"We will do our best to find a fair solution," he said. "The stronger
we are, the more combat capable our army is, the better our positions
at the talks will be."

However Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict could be resolved only if the territorial
integrity of his country was ensured.

"The conflict can be resolved only within the framework of the
territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. There is no other solution, and I
have no doubts that Azerbaijan will restore its territorial
integrity," the head of state said.

He stressed that Azerbaijan was seeking to solve the issue "peacefully".

"We hope for a peaceful resolution yet. To this end, the Armenian side
should unconditionally comply with the resolutions of international
organisations, including the U.N. Security Council, free the occupied
territories, and Azerbaijani citizens should return to their homes.
After that peace and stability will come to the region," Aliyev said.

He said the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was the "biggest source of
threat" in the region.

Azerbaijan and its people "will never allow a second Armenian state to
be created on their historical land", he said.

"Nagorno-Karabakh will never get independence. The people who live in
Nagorno-Karabakh now, and the Azeris will certainly return there
should live in autonomy. This is a well known international approach,"
the president said.

He made it clear that Azerbaijan would "never step aside from its
position of principle".

The head of state called for a speedy and fair settlement in Karabakh
on the basis of international law.

Speaking of the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh, he said it was "a
matter of the future".

"We have said many times that we will never agree to any status for
Nagorno-Karabakh outside Azerbaijan, and international law supports
our positions," the president said.

Aliyev urged Armenia to continue peace talks on Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict began on February 22, 1988. On November
29, 1989 direct rule in Nagorno-Karabakh was ended and Azerbaijan
regained control of the region. However later a joint session of the
Armenian parliament and the top legislative body of Nagorno-Karabakh
proclaimed the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.

On December 10, 1991, Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh held a referendum,
boycotted by local Azeris, which approved the creation of an
independent state.

The struggle over Nagorno-Karabakh escalated after both Armenia and
Azerbaijan obtained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. By the
end of 1993, the conflict had caused thousands of casualties and
created hundreds of thousands of refugees on both sides. An unofficial
ceasefire was reached on May 12, 1994.

As of August, 2008, the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group were
attempting to negotiate a full settlement of the conflict. On August
2, 2008, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President
Serzh Sargsyan travelled to Moscow for talks with Dmitry Medvedev, who
was Russian president at the time. As a result, the three presidents
signed an agreement that calls for talks on a political settlement of
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.