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State Dept: United States supports territorial integrity of Azerb.

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  • State Dept: United States supports territorial integrity of Azerb.

    31 January 2005

    U.S. Seeks Peaceful Settlement on Nagorno-Karabakh
    State Department fact sheet provides background on conflict, U.S. policy

    The U.S. Department of State issued the following fact sheet January 25:

    U.S. Department of State
    Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs
    Washington, DC
    January 25, 2005

    FACT SHEET
    THE UNITED STATES AND NAGORNO-KARABAKH

    Background

    The armed conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh (N-K) lasted from 1990 to 1994. By
    the time a cease-fire went into effect in 1994, Armenian forces controlled
    most of N-K, as well as large swaths of adjacent Azerbaijani territory. The
    fighting plus the expulsion of Armenians from Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis
    from Armenia produced more than a million refugees and internally displaced
    persons (IDPs). Approximately 100,000 Azerbaijanis remain in refugee camps
    today, where they face desperate living conditions. Turkey closed its land
    border with Armenia during the conflict to show solidarity with Azerbaijan
    and has not reopened it.

    The parties have observed a cease-fire agreement since 1994. Although
    cease-fire violations and cross-border sniping occur, all sides insist on
    their continued commitment to a peaceful settlement reached through
    negotiation.

    Peace Process

    In 1992, the CSCE (now the OSCE) created the Minsk Group, a coalition of
    member states dedicated to facilitating a peaceful resolution of the
    conflict. The Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group (Russia, France, and the U.S.)
    serve as mediators, working in close and effective cooperation with the
    parties. In 1997-98, Co-Chair shuttle diplomacy generated three separate
    peace proposals. Each of these proposals was rejected by one or another of
    the parties.

    Beginning in 1999, Presidents Heydar Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Robert
    Kocharian of Armenia began a direct dialogue through a series of bilateral
    meetings. Positive developments during a March 2001 Paris meeting among
    Presidents Aliyev, Kocharian, and Chirac inspired Secretary of State Colin
    L. Powell to invite both Presidents to continue their dialogue in the United
    States. Aliyev and Kocharian met with the Co-Chairs in Key West in April
    2001. The sides made significant progress but failed to reach a
    comprehensive settlement. Presidents Aliyev and Kocharian met on the margins
    of multilateral meetings in late 2001 and on the border between the two
    countries in August 2002 but failed to narrow their differences. President
    Heydar Aliyev died in 2003, and negotiations slowed as both countries held
    presidential elections that year.

    In 2004, the Co-Chairs initiated a series of meetings in Prague between the
    Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The "Prague Process" was
    designed to reinvigorate dialogue between the sides. Following a series of
    meetings between the Foreign Ministers, as well as meetings in Warsaw and
    Astana between Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharian, the Co-Chairs
    and the parties agreed the Prague Process should continue in 2005, with a
    focus on advancing negotiations towards a settlement.

    The U.S. As Mediator

    The U.S. remains actively engaged in advancing a peaceful settlement of the
    conflict. Cooperation among the U.S., Russian, and French mediators is
    excellent. The United States does not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an
    independent country, and its leadership is not recognized internationally or
    by the United States. The United States supports the territorial integrity
    of Azerbaijan and holds that the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh is a
    matter of negotiation between the parties. The United States remains
    committed to finding a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
    through the Minsk Group process. We are encouraged by the continuing talks
    between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

    (Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
    Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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