German foreign minister calls for Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement
Tuesday 20 February 2007
Jurnalo
At the end of his trip to the Caucasus, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday in the Armenian capital Yerevan called for Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve quickly the conflict over the disputed exclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The two former Soviet republics did not require any further offers of new mediation from outside for the talks to continue, Steinmeier said after meeting with his Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanyan.
The Armenians and Azerbaijanis had had successes in recent months that had to be built upon, Steinmeier said.
The predominantly Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh currently lies entirely within Azerbaijan's borders. The region declared itself independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, but this has not been recognized by any country, including Armenia.
During negotiations, the Armenian side declared itself willing at the end of 2006 to return to Azerbaijan all other areas it occupied apart from Nagorno-Karabakh.
This was seen in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku as an encouraging sign for a possible agreement with Armenia.
What remained unclarified was the future status of Nagorno- Karabakh itself.
The 4,400-square-kilometre region is officially a part of Azerbaijan, but in a war between 1992 and 1994, the local population drove out Azerbaijan's troops with support from Armenia.
Some 750,000 Azerbaijanis are believed to have lost their homes in the conflict.
There has been a ceasefire in the region since 1994.
Alongside the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the so-called Minsk Group under the leadership of Russia, the United States and France has been searching for a solution. dpa sv wjh ds
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Jurnalo
At the end of his trip to the Caucasus, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday in the Armenian capital Yerevan called for Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve quickly the conflict over the disputed exclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. The two former Soviet republics did not require any further offers of new mediation from outside for the talks to continue, Steinmeier said after meeting with his Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanyan.
The Armenians and Azerbaijanis had had successes in recent months that had to be built upon, Steinmeier said.
The predominantly Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh currently lies entirely within Azerbaijan's borders. The region declared itself independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, but this has not been recognized by any country, including Armenia.
During negotiations, the Armenian side declared itself willing at the end of 2006 to return to Azerbaijan all other areas it occupied apart from Nagorno-Karabakh.
This was seen in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku as an encouraging sign for a possible agreement with Armenia.
What remained unclarified was the future status of Nagorno- Karabakh itself.
The 4,400-square-kilometre region is officially a part of Azerbaijan, but in a war between 1992 and 1994, the local population drove out Azerbaijan's troops with support from Armenia.
Some 750,000 Azerbaijanis are believed to have lost their homes in the conflict.
There has been a ceasefire in the region since 1994.
Alongside the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the so-called Minsk Group under the leadership of Russia, the United States and France has been searching for a solution. dpa sv wjh ds
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Labels: Nagorno Karapakh
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 7:00 PM
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