31 January 2005
U.S. Seeks Peaceful Settlement on Nagorno-Karabakh
State Department fact sheet provides background on conflict, U.S. policy
The U.S. Department of State issued the following fact sheet January 25:
U.S. Department of State
Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs
Washington, DC
January 25, 2005
FACT SHEET
THE UNITED STATES AND NAGORNO-KARABAKH
Background
The armed conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh (N-K) lasted from 1990 to 1994. By
the time a cease-fire went into effect in 1994, Armenian forces controlled
most of N-K, as well as large swaths of adjacent Azerbaijani territory. The
fighting plus the expulsion of Armenians from Azerbaijan and Azerbaijanis
from Armenia produced more than a million refugees and internally displaced
persons (IDPs). Approximately 100,000 Azerbaijanis remain in refugee camps
today, where they face desperate living conditions. Turkey closed its land
border with Armenia during the conflict to show solidarity with Azerbaijan
and has not reopened it.
The parties have observed a cease-fire agreement since 1994. Although
cease-fire violations and cross-border sniping occur, all sides insist on
their continued commitment to a peaceful settlement reached through
negotiation.
Peace Process
In 1992, the CSCE (now the OSCE) created the Minsk Group, a coalition of
member states dedicated to facilitating a peaceful resolution of the
conflict. The Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group (Russia, France, and the U.S.)
serve as mediators, working in close and effective cooperation with the
parties. In 1997-98, Co-Chair shuttle diplomacy generated three separate
peace proposals. Each of these proposals was rejected by one or another of
the parties.
Beginning in 1999, Presidents Heydar Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Robert
Kocharian of Armenia began a direct dialogue through a series of bilateral
meetings. Positive developments during a March 2001 Paris meeting among
Presidents Aliyev, Kocharian, and Chirac inspired Secretary of State Colin
L. Powell to invite both Presidents to continue their dialogue in the United
States. Aliyev and Kocharian met with the Co-Chairs in Key West in April
2001. The sides made significant progress but failed to reach a
comprehensive settlement. Presidents Aliyev and Kocharian met on the margins
of multilateral meetings in late 2001 and on the border between the two
countries in August 2002 but failed to narrow their differences. President
Heydar Aliyev died in 2003, and negotiations slowed as both countries held
presidential elections that year.
In 2004, the Co-Chairs initiated a series of meetings in Prague between the
Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The “Prague Process” was
designed to reinvigorate dialogue between the sides. Following a series of
meetings between the Foreign Ministers, as well as meetings in Warsaw and
Astana between Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Robert Kocharian, the Co-Chairs
and the parties agreed the Prague Process should continue in 2005, with a
focus on advancing negotiations towards a settlement.
The U.S. As Mediator
The U.S. remains actively engaged in advancing a peaceful settlement of the
conflict. Cooperation among the U.S., Russian, and French mediators is
excellent. The United States does not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an
independent country, and its leadership is not recognized internationally or
by the United States. The United States supports the territorial integrity
of Azerbaijan and holds that the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh is a
matter of negotiation between the parties. The United States remains
committed to finding a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
through the Minsk Group process. We are encouraged by the continuing talks
between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: )