Bergkarabach

(Quelle: RFE / RL) The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia said today the two countries' presidents made no progress on resolving the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh when they twice met on the sidelines of a regional summit on June 5-6.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev sent a harsh message to Armenia on Friday, a statement that follows a visit by the OSCE mediators brokering settlement to the long-standing conflict over Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh to the region. Aliyev said the occupied territories will be freed no matter what it takes. 'We will make use of all means to liberate our land from occupation. We will resort to diplomatic, economic, transport, and, if necessary, military means, as this is our right,' the Azerbaijani leader said addressing celebrations dedicated to the Day of Republic, May 28.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) The new European Union special representative for the Caucasus, Peter Semneby, has suggested that the EU could in future lead a peacekeeping mission if a solution to the Nagorny Karabakh dispute is found. Semneby, a Swedish diplomat who has just taken up the post, said in an interview with IWPR in London last week that he wants to use his mandate to work on the region’s unresolved conflicts.

(Quelle: Eurasianet) Armenia and Azerbaijan seem prepared to make yet another attempt at settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The presidents of the two states are now tentatively scheduled to hold their second summit meeting of the year. Armenian officials revealed May 5 that President Robert Kocharian hopes to meet his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, in June.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) Armenian Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian has said the current format of the negotiations to settle the long-standing Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict is unlikely to change any time soon. 'Certainly, Upper Garabagh's participation [in peace talks] would be good. But everything is not unfolding as desired,' he told the press after attending the illegal military exercises in the occupied Azeri territories.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) President Ilham Aliyev has said Azerbaijan's talks with Armenia to resolve the long-standing Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict have entered into a new format meeting the country's interests. 'The new format will lay foundation for the restoration of the Azeri territorial integrity,' Aliyev said on a tour to the country's north-western districts last week. The president stressed that Azerbaijan has to strengthen its military potential in the meantime.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian made destructive statements during the recent discussions on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow. Oskanian said the conflict settlement will be specified over the next two months. He said if official Baku accepts the right of Garabagh Armenians to self-determination, 'Yerevan and Khankandi will be ready to consider all the issues involved afterwards'. Otherwise, Armenia will not participate in the talks concerning Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and the return of Azeri refugees home, Oskanian maintained.

(Quelle: RFE / RL) Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov today said the United States made him 'very interesting' proposals on how to solve his country's territorial dispute with Armenia. Speaking after talks with U.S. officials in Washington, Mammadyarov said Baku would make its response public when U.S. envoy Steven Mann visits the Azerbaijani capital on April 18. Before meeting with Mammadyarov on April 7, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reportedly talked with the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents over the phone.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) Tensions have escalated on the Armenia-Azerbaijan frontline, as hopes for settling the long-standing Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict subside after the fruitless round of talks between the two leaders in France in February. Over the last month, five Azerbaijani soldiers have been killed by Armenian fire and several others wounded in truce violations that the sides blame on each other. The regular monitoring on the contact line in the western Terter District by the OSCE mediating the conflict resolution failed last Wednesday after Armenians subjected the Azerbaijani positions to shooting, the Azeri Defense Ministry said.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) Armenia is cautiously optimistic about recent American diplomacy concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Yerevan's hopes for a peace settlement are mixed with concern about Washington's long-term goals for the region. ... Many commentators believe that one of Washington's goals may be the deployment of international peacekeeping forces in the Karabakh conflict zone – a move that could increase Washington's geopolitical leverage over Iran.