Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Armenia & Azerbaijan Inch Ahead In Karabakh Talks

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Armenia & Azerbaijan Inch Ahead In Karabakh Talks

    ARMENIA & AZERBAIJAN INCH AHEAD IN KARABAKH TALKS

    Reuters
    May 7 2009

    PRAGUE, May 7 (Reuters) - Armenia and Azerbaijan inched ahead in
    talks over settling their dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave
    on Thursday, mediators said.

    Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan held talks with his Azeri
    counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Prague, another in a series of meetings
    aimed to resolve the conflict over the Armenian-controlled enclave
    in Azerbaijan.

    "They were able... to reduce their differences on basic principles
    and generally agree on the basic ideas they came here to discuss,"
    said U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Matthew Bryza, a co-chairman of
    the Minsk Group of countries mediating the talks.

    "For the first time the presidents agreed on basic ideas surrounding
    these (long discussed) points," he told reporters.

    He gave no details on the substance of the talks.

    "We are preparing a breakthrough, we are in a position to identify
    what could be the break, but we are not yet through," added French
    envoy Bernard Fassier, but said there was a still a lot of work ahead.

    Representatives of the two Caucasian countries did not attend the
    news conference.

    The envoys said talks would continue on a lower level in the coming
    weeks and the two presidents may meet again in St. Petersburg in
    early June.

    Ethnic Armenian separatists, backed by Armenia, fought a war in the
    1990s to throw off Azerbaijan's control of the mountain enclave of
    Nagorno-Karabakh, the bloodiest conflict in ex-Soviet countries.

    An estimated 30,000 people were killed, and about 140,000 now live
    in the enclave. A fragile ceasefire is in force but a peace accord
    has never been signed.

    The talks took place on the sidelines of a European Union summit
    launching a cooperation programme for six former Soviet countries
    including the Caucasian states.

    Diplomatic activity has increased since last year's war in neighbouring
    Georgia, when Russia invaded the pro-Russian region of South Ossetia
    after Georgian troops stormed in.

    However, there is uncertainty over how a thaw in relations between
    Armenia and Azerbaijani ally Turkey might affect efforts to resolve
    the conflict.

    Oil-producing Azerbaijan has reacted angrily to plans by Turkey and
    Armenia to establish diplomatic relations and open their border, which
    Turkey closed in 1993 in solidarity with fellow Muslim Azerbaijan
    during the Nagorno-Karabakh war. (Reporting by Jan Korselt, writing
    by Jan Lopatka)

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Working...
X