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Armenia, Azerbaijan Renew Talks Commitment

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  • Armenia, Azerbaijan Renew Talks Commitment

    ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN RENEW TALKS COMMITMENT

    United Press International UPI
    Oct 30 2012

    PARIS, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan
    over the weekend recommitted themselves to finding a peaceful solution
    to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

    Azerbaijan Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Armenian
    counterpart Edward Nalbandian met Saturday in Paris with leaders of
    the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Minsk Group,
    which is mediating the conflict.

    After the meeting, the parties issued a statement in which the foreign
    ministers "reiterated their determination to continue working with
    the co-chairs to reach a peaceful settlement" in the wake of a furor
    this summer over the pardon of an Azeri soldier convicting of killing
    an Armenian counterpart eight years ago in Hungary.

    The OSCE co-chairmen -- including Ambassadors Robert Bradtke of the
    United States, Igor Popov of Russia and Jacques Faure of France --
    "stressed to the ministers the importance of reducing tensions among
    the parties," the statement said, adding, "They presented their ideas
    on a working proposal to advance the peace process."

    The Minsk Group leaders also put a focus on an upcoming visit to region
    in which they are to meet with the two countries' leaders next month,
    saying the "working proposal" would be discussed further then.

    The Paris meeting represented an attempt to bridge a vacuum in
    the talks that has developed following Baku's August pardoning of
    Azerbaijani military officer Ramil Safarov, who had been convicted
    of killing of Armenian serviceman Gurgen Markaryan in Hungary eight
    years ago.

    The Azeri courts issued a pardon for Safarov after he was extradited
    from Hungary, where he had been sentenced to life in prison. He was
    greeted by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev as a national hero and
    promoted to major after the extradition.

    That move upset Armenia and brought condemnation from the United
    Nations. Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner
    for Human Rights, said in September Safarov's attack on Markaryan
    was clearly ethnically motivated.

    "International standards regarding accountability for serious crimes
    should be upheld," he said. "Ethnically motivated hate crimes of
    this gravity should be deplored and properly punished, not publicly
    glorified by leaders and politicians."

    Since then, the Minsk Group mediators have been trying to get the two
    sides to re-commit to the peace process and to set up next month's
    meeting, which is likely to involve the presidents Aliyev and Serzh
    Sarkisyan of Armenia.

    Karen Bekaryan, head of the Armenian non-governmental organization
    European Integration, told the English-language news website
    Panorama.am last week the Safarov episode has changed Armenia's
    approach to the talks.

    "After the extradition and pardon of Ramil Safarov, we have a different
    situation. Armenia did not abandon the talks, but we now have much
    to say," he said.

    "I think before making the Safarov deal, Azerbaijan discussed the
    possible consequences (of) thinking that Armenia would quit the talks,
    (which is just what Azerbaijan wants), the Minsk Group format would
    change, the negotiations would be transferred to another platform
    and Azerbaijan could accuse Armenia of foiling the negotiations,"
    Bekaryan said.

    Armenia went to war with Azerbaijan over the disputed, Armenian
    majority territory of Nagorno-Karabakh in 1988, and since fighting
    stopped four years later have occupied the region, which Azerbaijan
    claims as 20 percent of its nation.

    Tensions rekindled in June when fighting broke out between Azeri and
    Armenian forces over the region.

    NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in September visited
    Armenia for the first time, calling on both sides to break down
    barriers that interfere with reconciliation.

    "There must be no return to conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan,"
    he said. "Tensions must be reduced and concrete steps must be taken
    to promote regional cooperation and reconciliation."

    http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2012/10/30/Armenia-Azerbaijan-renew-talks-commitment/UPI-31521351593000/

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