| Caucasus solution called at G-8 meet |
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10 July 2009
L’ACQUILA, Italy - The United States, France and Russia called Friday for the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to settle their long-running dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
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In a statement released from the Group of Eight summit in Italy, the three co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, said they affirm their commitment to efforts by Armenia and Azerbaijan to finalize "the basic principles for settlement" of the conflict.
Nagorno-Karabakh is an enclave in Azerbaijan that has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces since a six-year conflict that killed some 30,000 people and displaced 1 million before a truce was reached in 1994.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan during its conflict with Armenia. Turkey and Armenia agreed in April on a "road map" deal for U.S.-backed talks that could lead to the normalization of ties and the opening of the border. Turkish officials have said Turkey will not open its border with Armenia before the neighboring country ends its occupation of Karabakh, reassuring Azerbaijani leaders that Ankara's efforts to reconcile with Yerevan would not undermine that country’s interests. OSCE mediators who have been monitoring peacemaking efforts reported in early May that they saw signs of progress on the issue.
Proposed peace outline
"On the basis of what we heard from both presidents, we expect to be in a position to confirm some progress during the next weeks and months," Bernard Fassier of France said at the time. The statement the OSCE Minsk Group put out Friday from the G-8 summit said: "We are instructing our mediators to present to the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan an updated version" of a proposed peace outline brought forward in the Madrid Document of November 2007. "We urge the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the few differences remaining between them and finalize their agreement on these Basic Principles, which will outline a comprehensive settlement," Friday’s statement said.
Source: hurriyetdailynews.com
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