Azernews.Az

BAKU – OSCE mediators brokering settlement to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict have said after holding talks in Azerbaijan and Armenia that "now is the time to demonstrate the political will" needed to bring lasting peace and reconciliation to the peoples of the region.

The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Bernard Fassier of France, Robert Bradtke of the United States and Igor Popov of Russia - traveled July 11-18 to Moscow, Vilnius, Baku, and Yerevan, says a statement posted on the OSCE website.

Joined by Andrzej Kasprzyk, personal representative of the OSCE chairperson-in-office, the mediators met in Moscow on July 11 with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to discuss developments in the Minsk Group-brokered talks aiming to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

In Vilnius, the co-chairs briefed OSCE chairman Audronius Azubalis on July 13 on the peace process and steps taken since the June 24 meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders held with the Russian president’s mediation.

President Dmitry Medvedev hosted his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts, Ilham Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, in the Volga city of Kazan, the ninth in a series of trilateral meetings on the Karabakh conflict. The leaders of the mediating countries had urged to finalize a roadmap of a peace agreement during the Kazan summit. But such a document was not signed, and the parties even traded accusations after the meeting, though they said in a joint statement after the talks that some progress had been made in the peace process.

In Baku and Yerevan, the co-chairs met with Presidents Aliyev and Sargsyan. They reiterated to both presidents the importance of reaching agreement on the Basic Principles as the framework for moving to final settlement negotiations.

"The presidents committed to provide their reactions soon to the most recent formulations proposed for the framework document, and to continue to work with the co-chairs and the co-chair governments on the process of seeking a peaceful settlement," the statement said.

The OSCE mediators have led negotiations on the conflict settlement since Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a fragile ceasefire in 1994 following a brutal war over Nagorno Karabakh. Ethnic Armenian forces backed by Yerevan have occupied the Nagorno Karabakh region and seven surrounding Azerbaijani districts since the war that displaced up to a million Azerbaijanis.

Peace talks are underway on the basis of the Basic Principles, proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs. The peace outline includes the 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.

US co-chair Robert Bradtke has said the Karabakh settlement process has entered a crucial stage during which the mediating countries are trying to invigorate negotiations to achieve a solution, Armenia Today news website reported.

Speaking to a news conference in Yerevan, Bradtke also touched on the Kazan meeting, suggesting to refrain from hasty conclusions.

"We have to wait for the result of our efforts, which will be known in the coming weeks," Bradtke added.