EU to further urge Azerbaijan, Armenia to step up peace effort
By Sara Rajabova
The EU will continue to insist that Azerbaijan and Armenia step up their efforts to reach agreement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council said in an interview to The Business Year magazine.
He said the so-called Madrid Principles remain a valid basis for peace, in accordance with the commitments made by the Presidents of both countries to France, Russia, and the US as co-chairs of the OSCE's Minsk Group.
"We will continue to ask for unconditional access for representatives of the EU to Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding regions," Rompuy said.
He also noted that the EU calls on both sides to strictly respect the ceasefire and exercise restraint, on the ground and in public statements, in order to prevent further escalation of the situation.
"Threats and the use of force do not contribute to a resolution of this persisting conflict," he said.
Rompuy said the EU fully supports the efforts of the Minsk Group and its co-chairs to seek a peaceful resolution. "Where useful, we stand ready to provide extra assistance for confidence-building measures," he said.
"And once there is a settlement agreement, the EU will be ready to help implement it, including rehabilitation assistance," Rompuy underlined.
According to him, reaching a solution will take time. He said building trust is the first step toward finding a solution.
"Without trust, there will never be peace," he added.
Armenia and Azerbaijan for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the lengthy war in the early 1990s that displaced over one million Azerbaijanis, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenia's withdrawal from the Azerbaijani territory, but Armenia has not followed them to this day.
Though the fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, a peace accord has never been signed and the dispute remains unresolved. Mediators from Russia, France and the U.S. -- co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group -- have been brokering peace talks over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but their efforts have not produced any result yet.
Peace negotiations are underway on the basis of a peace outline proposed by the Minsk Group co-chairs and 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.