ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN SEEK PEACE ACCORD
By Isabel Gorst in Moscow
FT
November 3 2008 22:55
Azerbaijan on Monday welcomed a thaw in relations with Armenia after
the Âpresidents of the two countries pledged to find a political
settlement to their 15-year conflict over the breakaway enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave populated by ethnic Armenians,
broke away from Azerbaijan during a violent war that followed the
collapse of the Soviet Union. It has run its own affairs with support
from Armenia, since a fragile ceasefire in 1994, although no state
has recognised its independence.
The three men signed a declaration agreeing to intensify diplomatic
efforts to resolve the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh and to develop
confidence building measures in the region.
Khazar Ibrahim, a spokesman for Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry, said,
"This is the first ever document about Nagorno-Karabakh signed by the
two heads of state. If we use the document and take practical steps
we have a chance to move forward."
He said Azerbaijan was prepared to consider allowing Nagorno-Karabakh
some measure of self-determination, adding that "self-determination
does not mean independence".
Azerbaijan has demanded that Armenia withdraw troops from
Nagorno-Karabakh and allow ethnic Azerbaijanis displaced during the
war to return home.
"Comprehensive confidence building will only be possible if both
communities live together," he said.
Western diplomats said the war in August between Russia and Georgia
over Georgia’s separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia
appeared to have given impetus to diplomatic efforts to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Azerbaijan has grown prosperous amid an oil boom, and has stepped up
defence spending recently. However, the country has abandoned threats
to retake Nagorno-Karabakh by force since the war in Georgia.
Armenia, dependent on Georgia for access to the west since a blockade
imposed by Azerbaijan and Turkey in the early 1990’s, suffered economic
losses during the August war when roads across Georgia to the Black
Sea were closed.
Mr Ibrahim said that Azerbaijan would invest in Nagorno-Karabakh’s
economic revival once the conflict was settled. "It is in everybody’s
interest, including Armenia’s, that the conflict is resolved," he said.
Armenia is willing to consider returning to Azerbaijan some territories
surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh captured during the war, but insists
that the autonomy of Nagorno-Karabakh itself is not negotiable.
Karlen Avetissian, Nagorno-Karabakh’s permanent envoy in Yerevan,
the Armenian capital, said representatives of the mountain enclave
wanted to be involved in negotiations about their fate. Like many
in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, he expressed fears about spiralling
Azerbajaini military spending in the absence of a peace deal between
Yerevan and Baku following their conflict.
For its part, Turkey sided with Azerbaijan in the conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh, but has recently taken steps to mend its fractured
relationship with Armenia, using the impetus of President Abdullah
Gul’s "football diplomacy" in attending September’s match between
the two countries in Yerevan, the Armenian capital.
–Boundary_(ID_gS/XwfJh3h6bMObadDdqQg)–