InternationalPresidents Sargsian and Aliyev to meet again in Davos on January 28
Nalbandian and Mamedyarov to meet beforehand in Geneva
Published: Friday January 23, 2009
Edward Nalbandian, Armenia’s foreign minister, reviews the year 2008. Yerevan, Jan. 21, 2009. Photolure
Yerevan - The president of Armenia Serge Sargsian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev are expected to hold talks at the International Economic Forum at the Swiss town of Davos on January 28. This will be their third meeting as presidents. Previously they held talks in St. Petersburg in June and in Moscow in November, where a joint declaration was signed along with the Russian president.
Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Matthew Bryza (USA) and Bernard Fassier (France), co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, held meetings with the presidents and foreign ministers of both sides on January 19 and 20 during a visit to Baku and Yerevan. During these meetings, the decision was made for the Davos meeting on January 28 between the two presidents and a Geneva meeting between the foreign ministers on January 27. The Karabakh authorities report that the mediators did not visit Stepanakert due to bad weather.
In an interview with Radio Liberty, Mr. Bryza expressed hope that an Armenian-Azerbaijani framework peace deal could be brokered by the summer.
"Our target is to try to have it signed in the beginning of summer, in June or so. So there is certainly a chance. That's exactly why we are here. It depends on, number one, whether the presidents have found a way or can find a way to build on mutual understanding and positive feelings they have about each other and turn that into concrete steps. I hope so. We had a pretty good response in Baku. It also depends on whether society understands what is being proposed," he added. "Because if they do understand it, they will support it. So we've got some work to do."
During a January 21 press conference summarizing the foreign ministry's activities in 2008, Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian declared, "such an opportunity will exist only when Azerbaijan shows a constructive position and truly moves toward solutions.
"However, I would be careful with such declarations and would not make any prognosis. It is not right to set deadlines for such difficult negotiations," he added.
Karabakh's role
At the end of December, political factions within Karabakh's National Assembly issued a joint declaration asserting: "Karabakh cannot be a participant to the diplomatic efforts to change the established balance in the conflict zone, and will not bear responsibility for any agreement that is reached without the consent of the people of Karabakh."
Mr. Nalbandian in turn asserted, "It would be difficult to imagine any solution" without Karabakh's participation in the negotiation process. According to the foreign minister, "The solution is a time-consuming process. If we come to any solution, the results of the negotiations will be presented to the public not only in Armenia, but also in Karabakh. Without the assistance of the Armenian and Karabakh people, no one will sign anything."
A reporter asked Mr. Nalbandian whether he could state, as foreign minister, that Armenia will be opposed to Karabakh being a part of Azerbaijan under any circumstances. The foreign minister replied, "The people of Karabakh should express their opinion on this issue. The people of Karabakh must have the right to express freely how they are willing to live. We have said on many occasions that there are various ways of expressing one's opinion, including referendums. And you know how the people of Karabakh will express themselves."
New proposals?
Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov, after meeting with the co-chairs stated that the mediators had presented some additional solutions to the proposed basic principles of the settlement.
"We are now working on these solutions. Azerbaijan emphasizes the following position: return of the occupied territories, return of forcefully displaced people, and at the resolution of the conflict, the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan."
Mr. Nalbandian disputed his counterpart's report: "I do not believe that there is any truth to that announcement, because the co-chairs, in their meetings with us in Armenia, did not present us with any changes. We discussed how to bring the positions closer to each other during negotiations, based on the Madrid Principles, in the spirit of those declarations made in Moscow and Helsinki, within the frames of the OSCE."
CFE compliance
The Armenian Foreign Ministry's summary report for 2008 states that Armenia has continually maintained that Azerbaijan violates the armament standards stipulated in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). According to the requirements of CFE and the 1999 Vienna Document, Armenia's annual military information was presented to the Joint Consultative Group and Conflict Prevention Center of the OSCE. Within the framework of CFE and the Vienna Document, eight visits of supervisory groups of other countries and the group for assessment of Vienna Document were organized jointly with the Defense Ministry of Armenia.
Recently, Baku officially declared that in 2008 Russia supplied Armenia with arms worth $800 million. Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, denied this statement in his annual press conference.
The Russian Foreign Ministry says that the reports are anti-Russian misinformation and are not conducive to the positive development of friendly Russia-Azerbaijan relations.
