Mediators pledge further effort to bridge differences on Karabakh peace outline
OSCE mediators met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and then with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on Thursday in Warsaw to discuss next steps aimed at reaching a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, they said in a statement.
The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Bernard Fassier of France, Robert Bradtke of the United States and Igor Popov of Russia - reaffirmed the commitment made by Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy, Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev in their statement issued in May to assist the sides to achieve such a settlement, the mediators’ statement said.
In their joint statement of May 26 made in Deauville, France, the presidents of France, Russia and the U.S. - the countries co-chairing the Minsk Group - strongly urged the sides to prepare their populations for peace, not war.
The co-chairs presented their work plan for the coming months, leading up to the December OSCE Ministerial Council in Vilnius. They pledged to "continue to work with the sides to delineate their current differences" on the Basic Principles as a framework for a comprehensive peace settlement.
The co-chairs also will propose to all the parties additional measures aimed at strengthening implementation of the 1994 ceasefire, improving the atmosphere on the ground, and promoting understanding among peoples of the region, the statement says.
The mediators plan to visit the region again in the near future to carry out this work plan, it added.
Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war in the early 1990s. About 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory has been under the occupation of Armenian armed forces since the ceasefire was signed in 1994. Peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.
The Basic Principles, which lie at the core of peace talks, include the return of the territories surrounding the Nagorno Karabakh region 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.
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