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BAKU WANTS TO SEE TURKEY AS CO-CHAIRMAN OF OSCE MINSK GROUP
TREND Information
25.09.08 10:57
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, Baku, 24 September /corr. Trend News I.Alizade / Official
Baku wants Turkey to more closely participate in the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict settlement as a mediator. Azerbaijan would like Turkey to
become Co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, the Head of the Foreign
Relations Department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan,
Novruz Mammadov, said.
The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988
due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has
occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these
territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time
the active hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
( Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
Turkey is a friendly, fraternal country and strategic partner
of Azerbaijan, and it is represented in the Minsk Group. But the
formation of the chairmanship to the Minsk Group is realized via
consensus. I consider that the probability of Armenias consent to
Turkeys chairmanship equals zero. Therefore it is impossible to speak
about this extensively, said Mammadov.
According to him, leaderships of Turkey and Armenia held discussions
for several times.
Mammadov said that due to the recent processes, Turkeys leadership
makes certain statements.
If as a result of the efforts made by the Government of Turkey in the
last negotiations with the Armenians for the solution of conflict,
they can convince the Armenian side of consent to representation
in the Minsk Group, a number of questions can be clarified. If an
agreement is reached upon the format, cochairmen, it can come out
that Turkey will become the cochairman of the Minsk Group. But I do
not consider this real, he added.
He said hat considering that today South Caucasus is one of the
sensitive regions of Eurasia, the events between Georgia and
Russia affected the processes in the world and the international
relations. Also these events created a new situation in the
international relations.
Therefore, taking into account the processes in the foreign relations,
several analysts, centers declare that possibly the cochairmen or the
format of the OSCE Minsk Group will change. Here the discussions deal
with the change in the format. Because in these processes, tension
arose between Russia and the USA, and each of these countries stand
on the different positions contrary to each other, said Mammedov.
He also added that despite this, still the agenda does not include
and is not expected to include a change to the cochairmen or format
of OSCE Minsk Group. In such questions it is necessary to be to
patient. Simply, as the cochairmen of the Minsk Group visited the
region individually, an opinion appeared regarding the change to the
cochairmen-countries or format, said Mammadov.
TREND Information
25.09.08 10:57
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, Baku, 24 September /corr. Trend News I.Alizade / Official
Baku wants Turkey to more closely participate in the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict settlement as a mediator. Azerbaijan would like Turkey to
become Co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, the Head of the Foreign
Relations Department of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan,
Novruz Mammadov, said.
The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988
due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has
occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh
region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these
territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In
1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time
the active hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group
( Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
Turkey is a friendly, fraternal country and strategic partner
of Azerbaijan, and it is represented in the Minsk Group. But the
formation of the chairmanship to the Minsk Group is realized via
consensus. I consider that the probability of Armenias consent to
Turkeys chairmanship equals zero. Therefore it is impossible to speak
about this extensively, said Mammadov.
According to him, leaderships of Turkey and Armenia held discussions
for several times.
Mammadov said that due to the recent processes, Turkeys leadership
makes certain statements.
If as a result of the efforts made by the Government of Turkey in the
last negotiations with the Armenians for the solution of conflict,
they can convince the Armenian side of consent to representation
in the Minsk Group, a number of questions can be clarified. If an
agreement is reached upon the format, cochairmen, it can come out
that Turkey will become the cochairman of the Minsk Group. But I do
not consider this real, he added.
He said hat considering that today South Caucasus is one of the
sensitive regions of Eurasia, the events between Georgia and
Russia affected the processes in the world and the international
relations. Also these events created a new situation in the
international relations.
Therefore, taking into account the processes in the foreign relations,
several analysts, centers declare that possibly the cochairmen or the
format of the OSCE Minsk Group will change. Here the discussions deal
with the change in the format. Because in these processes, tension
arose between Russia and the USA, and each of these countries stand
on the different positions contrary to each other, said Mammedov.
He also added that despite this, still the agenda does not include
and is not expected to include a change to the cochairmen or format
of OSCE Minsk Group. In such questions it is necessary to be to
patient. Simply, as the cochairmen of the Minsk Group visited the
region individually, an opinion appeared regarding the change to the
cochairmen-countries or format, said Mammadov.