HistoryofTruth.com - Armenian Allegations

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived for a working visit to Sochi Aug. 9, at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev. They held a 4-hour-long private meeting at the Bocharov Ruchey residence. Only the Russian President's Aide Sergey Prikhodko attended the meeting, but he refused to make any comments, reported the Russia-based Izvestia daily.

During the open part of the meeting, President Aliyev stated Azerbaijan appreciates Russia's efforts to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and seeks a peaceful settlement. "Azerbaijan is – may be even more than any other side - concerned with the speediest settlement of the conflict for the forcibly displaced people to return to their places of residence and for peace to be established. The speediest settlement of the conflict meets all countries' interests," the Azeri leader said.

 

President Medvedev said he would like to be frank in discussing what is to be done further and "possible developments." The intrigue is whether official Baku will be persuaded into starting negotiations for a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the daily writes.

Politically, it is most important for President Medvedev to get things moving in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process. At the G8 meeting in Deauville the other OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, US and French leaders, devolved necessary powers on him.

Early this July Russian FM Sergey Lavrov, commissioned by President Dmitry Medvedev, visited Yerevan and Baku. He handed over the Russian leader's messages to the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents. The messages contained proposals for a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

A high-ranking Russian Foreign Ministry official said that the sides were about to sign a roadmap at the Kazan meeting on July 24. "Due to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's mediation efforts Baku and Yerevan were just on the point of shaking hands on it. At the last moment, however, Ilham Aliyev stepped back and proposed ten amendments," the source said.

The Madrid Principles envisage the return of territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan, interim status, with security and self-government guarantees, to Nagorno-Karabakh, and a corridor between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

The principles also indicate the need for return of displaced people and refugees, international security guarantees and a peace-keeping operation. One more point deals with granting final status to Nagorno-Karabakh by means of legally binding expression of will.

The source said that it is this last point that proved to be a major stumbling-block. That is, the authors of the roadmap from the OSCE Minsk Group believe a referendum is to decide the enclave's fate.

Nonetheless, at the end of their meeting, the Russian and Azeri leaders stated they saw a positive tendency in all aspects, the Izvestia daily concludes.

Tert.am

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