Azernews.Az

BAKU – An agreement has been reached on peacekeeping forces to be deployed in Nagorno Karabakh, an Azerbaijani region that has been occupied by Armenian troops since a war in the early 1990s, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has said.

According to the agreement, the peacekeepers will not be from the countries co-chairing the mediating OSCE Minsk Group - the United States, Russia and France – or regional states, Mammadyarov said but he did not elaborate.

He said the deployment has been included in the basic principles for the conflict settlement.

"The Nagorno Karabakh conflict must be resolved stage-by-stage and all stages are inter-related," he said. "The basic principles for the conflict settlement were determined at the G8 meeting in Canada. First of all, the Armenian troops must be withdrawn from the occupied [Azerbaijani] territories. All communications and roads must be opened. Then, the previously occupied territories must be restored. The internally displaced persons are to return to their native lands, and peacekeeping forces are to be deployed."

Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a brutal war which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory, including Nagorno Karabakh, has been under the occupation of the Armenian armed forces since a ceasefire was signed in 1994. Peace talks are underway on the basis of the Madrid principles, a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs. Baku has accepted the Madrid Document with some exceptions, while Yerevan has yet to state formally whether or not it accepts the peace outline.

Mammadyarov said that "in principle", the Armenian side agrees to a pullout from the occupied Azerbaijani territories but has cited a precondition "to set a date for self-determination of the people of Nagorno Karabakh". "The issue remains open due to the Armenian stance," he added.

The separatist regime in Nagorno Karabakh held an illegal referendum in December 1991 with the participation of only Armenian residents. The voters supported so-called independence of the region, which has not been recognized by the international community.

Mammadyarov said the Minsk Group co-chairs did not make new proposals during their current visit to the region, and discussions are underway based on the standing proposals.

The co-chairs - Igor Popov of Russia, Bernard Fassier of France and Robert Bradtke of the United States - met with Azerbaijani leaders in Baku on Monday. On Tuesday, the mediators crossed the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops. They will head to the occupied Nagorno Karabakh region and then to the Armenian capital Yerevan.

The co-chairs’ visit aims to set the stage for the June 25 meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents to be hosted by the Russian leader in Kazan.

The status of the Nagorno Karabakh region has been a stumbling block in peace talks. Baku says the occupied districts must be freed and Azerbaijani refugees returned home, and only after that could the status of Nagorno Karabakh be determined within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, while Armenia insists that self-determination is the core principle for a settlement of the dispute. The OSCE mediators are seeking a solution based simultaneously on both principles.

Progress ‘can be expected soon’
Russian Minsk Group co-chair Igor Popov said Tuesday that the process of resolving the Karabakh conflict has been intensified and results "can be expected soon". He was speaking to Azerbaijani reporters on the frontline.

French co-chairman Bernard Fassier said the conflict parties are currently at a crucial stage in peace talks. He reminded that the US, French and Russian leaders issued a very important joint statement on the Karabakh conflict in Deauville, France in late May, voicing hope that the sides would keep it in focus.

In their statement, issued at the G8 summit, Presidents Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev urged the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders to finalize the basic principles of a peace agreement during the forthcoming Kazan summit.

Robert Bradtke of the U.S. said "a unique opportunity" has now emerged for a settlement of the Karabakh conflict, and the sides should seize it, as "there is no other way" to resolve the long-standing dispute.