Azerbaijani FM to table Karabakh with Armenian counterpart, mediators
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will meet with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen in Vienna on July 12 and discuss ways to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev has said.
Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian will attend another meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart and the mediators.
Azerbaijan recently criticized the work of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group on the settlement of the long-standing conflict.
The Minsk Group, co-chaired by France, the United States and Russia, has been mediating peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia since the two South Caucasus republics signed a precarious cease-fire in 1994 following a lengthy war. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts, has been occupied by Armenian armed forces since then. Peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.
Meanwhile, French Ambassador to Armenia Henri Reynaud said that the Minsk Group is consistently working to reach a reasonable solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He said that "it is always easy to criticize but more difficult to act."
According to him, the co-chairs of the Minsk Group are providing their full assistance.
Reynaud said that in this difficult situation the negotiations are still ongoing, the intermediaries arrange meetings with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia or directly between the foreign ministers. According to the diplomat, this is a very significant contribution to the peace process.
Iran earlier expressed readiness to become a mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement. Reynaud commented that the negotiations are being held in the existing Minsk Group format.
Azerbaijan urged OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Leonid Kozhara to intensify the efforts of the Minsk Group at a meeting of the Foreign Minister with the OSCE chief on July 8. Kozhara in turn expressed concern over the problem of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement and voiced support for the Minsk Group's activity, adding that "we also consider it necessary to step up its activity."
Peace talks are underway on the basis of the peace outline dubbed the Madrid Principles, also known as Basic Principles. The document envisions a return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control; determining the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh; a corridor linking Armenia to the region; and the right of all internally displaced persons to return home.