Karabakh mediators plan ministerial (UPDATE)
By Sara Rajabova
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs brokering resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh plan to organize a meeting of the foreign ministers in the coming weeks to advance the peace process.
The co-chairs - Igor Popov of Russia, Jacques Faure of France and Ian Kelly of the United States, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Andrzej Kasprzyk, traveled to the region March 18-22 and April 1-6 to continue working to help the sides find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Later, the co-chairs briefed ambassadors of the OSCE Minsk Group in Vienna.
In Yerevan, the co-chairs met with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan on March 21. In Baku, they met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on April 2, according to the OSCE website.
"Also, in two separate trips to Nagorno-Karabakh on March 19-20 and April 4-5, the co-chairs met with the de facto authorities," it said.
The mediators were briefed on the current situation on both sides of the Line of Contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops while crossing in two locations on April 4 and 5. They discussed recent security incidents, and also quality of life along the Line of Contact with representatives of local administration.
The co-chairs noted the relative calm that prevailed on the Line of Contact during the period of Novruz holiday and Easter, and expressed their hope that this would continue. They discussed with the presidents the issue of civil flights to and from the airport in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The presidents reaffirmed their commitment to the peace process, and expressed their support for continued engagement at the highest levels.
In their last statement in March, which came after the meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Mammadyarov and with Armenia's Nalbandyan, the co-chairs expressed concern regarding the issue of civilian flights to Nagorno-Karabakh and the recent violence on the contact line.
Armenian media frequently reports that the airport in Khojaly is to be commissioned in the near future.
Earlier, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stated that commissioning of the airport is an open violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation adopted on December 7, 1944 in Chicago.
International flights from the Khojaly airport, constructed in 1978, were prohibited after the occupation of territories by Armenia. The Khojaly airport, which has been registered in international organizations with the name UB13, is a facility with military purposes.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emerged in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against the neighboring country. Since a lengthy war between the two South Caucasus countries that displaced over a million Azerbaijanis and ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Peace talks brokered by the Minsk Group co-chairs have been largely fruitless so far.
The 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.