Mediators to present updated Madrid principles to Yerevan and Baku
News.Az
Thu 10 December 2009 | 13:31 GMT
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will soon
present to Armenia and Azerbaijan an updated version of the Madrid
document on a Karabakh settlement.
`Considering the discussions held in the past two years (since the
Madrid document was drawn up) by the presidents of Azerbaijan and
Armenia, the co-chairs have prepared an updated version of the Madrid
document which will be presented to the parties in the near future’,
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrey Nesterenko told a briefing
in Moscow on Thursday.
He recalled that the Madrid document contains the proposals put
forward by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs (Russia, France and the USA)
on the basic principles of a settlement. The document was presented to
the Armenian and Azerbaijani representatives at the OSCE summit in
Madrid in November 2007.
According to Nesterenko, `If the positive dynamic in the negotiation
process achieved this year is maintained next year too, it will be
possible to hope for the quick and complete coordination of the basic
principles of the settlement and their development on the basis of a
peace agreement.’
Commenting on the statement about the Azerbaijani leadership’s alleged
discontent with the work of the Minsk Group, Nesterenko said, `The
Russian side did not receive any sign of discontent from the
Azerbaijani leadership about the actions of the OSCE Minsk Group and
the mediation efforts of its co-chairs.’ `Meanwhile, we have received
repeated thanks for these efforts,’ the spokesman said.
The basic principles set out in the Madrid document and reiterated by
the French, American and Russian presidents at the G8 summit in
L’Aquila in July are:
the return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to
Azerbaijani control
an interim status for Nagorno-Karabakh providing guarantees for
security and self-governance
a corridor linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh
future determination of the final legal status of Nagorno-Karabakh
through a legally binding expression of will
the right of all internally displaced persons and refugees to return
to their former places of residence
international security guarantees that would include a peacekeeping operation.
Lala B.