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 YEREVAN
(RFE/RL)–International mediators said on Friday that they have
modified their existing plan to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict and presented it to the Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents ahead of their fresh face-to-face negotiations
scheduled for Monday.
The U.S., Russian and French diplomats
co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group announced unspecified changes
in their “basic principles” of a Karabakh settlement after
ending yet another tour of the conflict zone earlier this week.
A joint statement issued by the troika read,
“As instructed by their presidents in L’Aquila in July 2009, the
Co-Chairs delivered to President [Serzh] Sarkisian, just as they
had to President Ilham Aliyev during their visit to Baku in
December 2009, an updated version of the Madrid Document of
November 2007, containing the Co-Chairs’ latest articulation of
the Basic Principles.”
“On January 21, the Co-Chairs met President
Aliyev in Baku, Azerbaijan. In their discussions with the
Co-Chairs, each president expressed their commitment to continue
to pursue a peaceful settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
and reaffirmed the seriousness of their side in the
negotiations,” the statement said.
The mediators already prepared what they
called an “updated version” of the proposed framework agreement
when they met in Krakow, Poland in July. Their latest statement
did not specify whether the document underwent further changes
in the following months.
The so-called Madrid principles provide for
the return of seven districts linking Armenia and Karabakh
liberated from Azeri occupation during the 1991-1994 Karabakh
liberation struggle. They also envisage a future referendum on
self-determination in Karabakh that could presumably lead to
international recognition of its independence from Soviet
Azerbaijan in 1991.
According to sources familiar with the
negotiating process, the remaining disagreements between the
conflicting parties center on practical modalities of the
referendum and time frames for Armenian withdrawal from Kelbajar
and Lachin, the districts sandwiched between Karabakh and
Armenia. The parties are also understood to disagree on the
status of a land corridor that would connect the two Armenian
entities.
Aliyev and Sarkisian will again try to
overcome these sticking points when they hold a trilateral
meeting with Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev in the Russian
Black Sea city of Sochi on Monday. According to the Regnum news
agency, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed hope on
Friday that the two leaders will continue their “intensive
dialogue.” Lavrov was careful not to predict a breakthrough in
the talks.
Lavrov’s Armenian counterpart, Edward
Nalbandian, likewise cautioned against great expectations from
the Sochi meeting. He said the peace talks will yield a tangible
result only if Azerbaijan takes “a more constructive approach.”
“I wouldn’t say that some breakthrough can be expected soon,”
Nalbandian told a news conference.
But a senior aide to Aliyev, Norvuz Mammadov,
insisted that the onus is on the Armenian side to act more
“constructively” and facilitate a peaceful settlement. The APA
news agency also quoted him as saying that no documents are due
to be signed in Sochi.
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