Azernews.Az

Talks on settling the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh can be carried out only with the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France, the Armenian president’s spokesman has said. Samvel Fermanian was commenting on the OSCE chair Kazakhstan’s recently announced plan to develop a roadmap on a negotiated settlement of the long-standing dispute, Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Fermanian said Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has sent a message to the Armenian leader through the organization’s Chairman-in-Office, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev, who announced the roadmap proposal earlier this month. Saudabayev also said in a recent meeting with President Serzh Sarkisian that as the OSCE chairing state, Kazakhstan is ready to facilitate a peaceful solution of the Garabagh problem.
Fermanian said "the presidents of the co-chairing countries always state that they are ready to assist in a peaceful resolution of the conflict", indirectly implying that Yerevan is rejecting Astana’s proposal to broker peace talks.
The Kazakh government’s roadmap initiative, which aims to speed a negotiated conflict settlement and invigorate the sides’ efforts toward reaching a solution, was voiced by the OSCE chairman at the organization’s Parliamentary Assembly’s winter session in Vienna.
The Garabagh conflict emerged during the last few years of the Soviet Union. 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory, including Upper Garabagh and seven adjacent districts, has been under Armenian occupation since the two South Caucasus republics signed a precarious cease-fire in 1994 following a lengthy war. Peace talks have brought few tangible results so far.*