updated
By Roland Eggleston
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have ended two days of talks in
Paris aimed at settling the long-standing dispute over the
Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. In recent years, three draft plans for resolving
the problem have been submitted by the Organization for Security and
Cooperation, or OSCE, but each has been rejected by one side or the other.
Last week, the current OSCE chairman, Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea
Geoana, visited Armenia and Azerbaijan in the run-up to the Paris talks.
RFL/RL correspondent Roland Eggleston made the trip with Geoana and files
this report.
Munich, 5 March 2001 (RFE/RL) -- In both Armenia and Azerbaijan, the OSCE
chairman last week urged leaders and foreign ministers not to be
disappointed by past failures to resolve the impasse over
Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian and his Azerbaijani counterpart,
Heidar Aliev, finished two days of talks today in Paris hosted by French
President Jacques Chirac. Both leaders had earlier said they were actively
seeking a peace settlement for the mostly ethnic Armenian enclave situated
within Azeri territory, but there were no breakthroughs reported at the
Paris talks.
A spokeswoman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry (unnamed) told journalists
accompanying Geoana last week (27 February) that the government in Yerevan
was no more than cautiously optimistic.
"We call it a 'cautious optimism' because we know from our past that
sometimes when we are too optimistic of a solution something happens which
pulls the whole process back to its beginning stages. So we are
optimistic, cautiously optimistic."
Two days later (1 March), Kocharian himself was a bit less cautious,
telling reporters there was "real hope" of making some progress in Paris.
In Azerbaijan the same day, Aliev told Geoana that many in his country
were disappointed at the OSCE's failure to produce a settlement acceptable
to Baku. He said some were beginning to believe that a military solution
would be more successful. But the week before (23 February), while
addressing his own parliament, Aliev made clear he did not favor a
military solution.
Geoana told journalists traveling with him that he thought the Paris talks
might be successful in producing new initiatives for a resumption of the
peace talks. Geoana said, however, that he did not expect any major
breakthrough in the peace negotiations in the near future, even if -- in
his view -- both presidents were working for a settlement.
"It is obvious that there is a true dialogue going on. It is obvious that
the two presidents are really embarking on this effort with sincerity and
commitment. But I would really not go in the direction of saying that we
should expect major breakthroughs anytime soon."
Nagorno-Karabakh is an enclave inside Azerbaijan now populated by ethnic
Armenians. War erupted when the territory broke with Azerbaijan in 1988.
Tens of thousands of people were killed before a cease-fire was negotiated
in 1994.
The war cost Azerbaijan control of Karabakh and at least six neighboring
districts -- altogether some 20 percent of its territory. About 800,000
refugees now live in Azerbaijan, hoping for a peace settlement that will
allow them to return home.
An Armenian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman (unnamed) said her country's main
objective in the negotiations was to ensure the safety of the people of
Nagorno-Karabakh. That meant, she said, providing them with a permanent
link to Armenia.
"The main objective for a settlement is to guarantee the unimpeded
existence of the Nagorno-Karabakh people within their own borders and with
a constant link to Armenia. Whatever solution is taken, it should be
within the will of the Nagorno-Karabakh people and with their agreement."
Earlier negotiations led by the United States, Russia, and France on
behalf of the OSCE produced three draft plans for a settlement. The most
recent, in 1998, proposed that Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh should form
what was described as a "common state." This would amount to a loose
confederation in which Karabakh would enjoy de facto independence with
the status of a republic, its own constitution, armed forces, and the
power to veto any legislation passed in Baku.
At a meeting with opposition politicians in Baku, chairman Geoana was
asked how it was possible for OSCE negotiators to make such a proposal.
Several angry Azerbaijani politicians described it as "unjust and unfair."
Aliev told Geoana at a meeting with local and foreign media that "no
greater injustice could have been offered to Azerbaijan than presenting
such a proposal." He reiterated that he wanted a peaceful solution to the
dispute.
"As we have declared several times but would like to reiterate here,
Azerbaijan is in favor of a peaceful settlement of this conflict and we
are doing our best to achieve only a peaceful settlement. But after the
debate in parliament [last week], there is a feeling among the people in
Azerbaijan that they would prefer a more military solution to the problem.
And we can understand that. Historically, force has been answered by force
and aggression resisted by actions to save the nation."
Geoana told both Aliev and Azerbaijani opposition politicians that the
international community would not tolerate another war like the one in the
early 1990s. He said there was a strong desire to see an end to the two
nations' stand-off and a return to stability in the area.
Geoana said Azerbaijan and Armenia must realize that both would benefit
from real peace. But he emphasized that it could be achieved only if both
sides were ready to make compromises.
"We are focusing on finding solutions which would be acceptable to both
parties. But I have to say once again that compromise can be reached only
through serious compromises on both sides, on all sides, and thus really
requires a lot of political courage. But this is the only way out for a
political settlement of the crisis."
At the same time, Geoana said he recognized a final settlement had to
satisfy not only the governments in both countries but also their peoples.
He said convincing public opinion that the settlement is a good one is
important for its success. And he said the way to do that was to ensure
that the final accord was fair to both parties.
Copyright 2001 RFE/RL
Talks on Nagorno Karabakh Break up without Progress
PARIS, Mar 5, 2001 -- (Agence France Presse) Talks between Armenia and
Azerbaijan on the future of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh broke
up in Paris Monday without any concrete signs of progress.
French President Jacques Chirac chaired the meeting between his
counterparts Robert Kocharian of Armenia and Heydar Aliyev of Azerbaijan
and said he was optimistic that the row could be settled this year.
"I urge and strongly hope that this year will not end without a settlement
being found which is -- and this is essential -- acceptable to Azerbaijan
and Armenia," Chirac told reporters.
But despite Chirac's enthusiasm, the parties seemed no closer to deciding
the fate of the disputed region, which is on Azerbaijani territory but
largely populated by an Armenian population which looks to Yerevan for
leadership.
Azerbaijan and Armenia, former Soviet republics, fought a three-year war
over the enclave, a region largely populated by Armenians which proclaimed
its independence from Azerbaijan in 1991 with Yerevan's backing.
Some 30,000 people were killed and a million forced to flee their homes
before a ceasefire was signed in 1994, but a final settlement has been
elusive.
On Monday, Chirac met both leaders separately before all three came
together for a three-hour summit on the issue and a working
lunch. Kocharian and Aliyev met late Sunday after their arrival in Paris.
Chirac was upbeat, however, describing the encounter as "friendly."
"There is on both sides a real will to find a solution. And for that, I am
overjoyed," he declared.
"France has extremely friendly relations with both Azerbaijan and
Armenia. She has put herself at the service of the search for a fair
solution that is acceptable to both parties," Chirac said.
France is the joint president, along with Russia and the United States, of
the Minsk group set up at the request of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to find a solution to the dispute.
Monday's summit was preceded on January 26 by another trilateral meeting
in Paris held to mark Azerbaijan's entry into the OSCE. In the past two
years the two Caucasian heads of state have met 15 times.
Kocharian had left Yerevan for Paris Sunday in a confident mood, telling
the Interfax news agency: "The Karabakh conflict has a real chance of
being settled."
He warned, however, that "it would be premature to talk about new
approaches at the moment."
For his own part, the Azeri leader, who left Baku for Paris on Saturday,
had said this latest round of talks would focus on reaching a firm
agreement.
"We are going to talk to Kocharian about how to reach a firm agreement for
resolving the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh in a peaceful way," Aliyev told
journalists at Baku airport.
"But when we will achieve the breakthrough, I cannot say," he
added.
((c) 2001 Agence France Presse)
The Ghost of Progress
A summit meeting on Nagorny Karabakh in Paris this month is being hailed as
the region's "Camp David".
By Ara Tadevosian in Yerevan
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan are to meet in Paris this weekend
amid growing hopes of a long-awaited breakthrough in the Nagorny Karabakh
dispute.
It is thought that Robert Kocharian and his Azeri counterpart, Heidar Aliev,
will focus on the so-called "common state" option -- a solution which will
grant the de facto republic its own army, police force and constitution.
However, both presidents face growing pressure at home to defend their
sovereign interests at all costs and any sign of weakness is likely to seal
their political fate.
Over the past few months, observers have noted "the ghost of progress" in
the Nagorny Karabakh peace talks which have dragged on for the past seven
years.
The six-year war between the two former Soviet republics, which claimed an
estimated 30,000 lives, was suspended by a ceasefire in 1994.
But, although the two presidents entered into a dialogue in Moscow two years
ago, it was not until January 26 this year that a meeting in Paris, hosted
by French president Jacques Chirac, showed signs of a breakthrough.
An Armenian diplomat told IWPR, "The French president has outlined his
vision for possible solutions to the conflict and has proposed definite
principles to both sides on which a peaceful agreement could be founded."
In the wake of the meeting, the Azeri opposition paper Ieni Musavat claimed
that the leaders were seriously considering the "common state" option which
had first been mooted by the OSCE Minsk group in 1998.
This proposal, which focuses on bringing Azerbaijan and Nagorny Karabakh
under the umbrella of a confederate state, has previously been rejected by
President Aliev and enjoys little support in Baku.
Details of this option first became public knowledge in Azerbaijan in
January when documents leaked by the Azeri press suggested the "common
state" solution was the favourite of three alternatives currently on the
negotiating table.
The proposal takes as its premise the fact that "Nagorny Karabakh has the
governmental and territorial characteristics of a republic forming a common
state with Azerbaijan within the internationally recognised borders of the
latter."
Its terms include the creation of Karabakhi and Azeri representations in
Stepanakert and Baku as well as bilateral discussions between the two
leaderships on "any questions of interest to Stepanakert".
The borders of the new republic would be equivalent to the territorial
boundaries of the former Nagorny Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, with possible
variations subject to the agreement of both sides.
Finally, under this proposal, Nagorny Karabakh would adopt its own
constitution, defined by a popular referendum, and recruit its own "national
guard" and police force.
The publication of these confidential proposals in the Azeri press sparked
outrage in Stepanakert. Naira Melkumian, the foreign minister, said, "This
is a clear sign that Azerbaijan is unable to hold a constructive dialogue
and to observe the fundamental principles of international debate."
However, on February 20, the New York Times suggested there was a "ghost of
progress" in the latest round of peace talks and quoted Western diplomats as
saying that Chirac had voiced "reserved optimism".
Russia has also thrown its weight behind the initiative and, last month,
President Vladimir Putin's press office announced that Moscow fully
supported the French leader over the proposed solutions.
The Yerevan newspaper Aikakan Jamanak concludes that Russia and France have
taken advantage of America's current preoccupation with the Gulf to take the
initiative into their own hands. The USA is the third co-chair of the Minsk
Group but has taken a passive role in resolution talks over the past few
months.
Certainly, it was no coincidence that Sergei Ivanov, secretary of the
Russian Security Council, visited both Yerevan and Baku on the eve of the
Paris meeting. And the Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, has made it
clear that Moscow "has no intention of remaining aloof from the process".
However, despite the growing optimism, Chirac's initiatives have unleashed a
wave of apprehension in Azerbaijan where opposition politicians suspect
President Aliev of "signing a capitulatory peace agreement with Armenia".
Last month, Aliev told the Azeri parliament that none of the Minsk Group's
proposals were in Azerbaijan's interests but added that "the process was
making some forward progress".
The Azeri foreign minister Guliev promptly called on the Azeri people to
"support Heidar Aliev in his efforts to secure a swift and peaceful solution
to the problem".
However, on February 24, the day after the debate, the leaders of around 50
political parties and social organisations in Azerbaijan announced that they
would stage mass protest meetings "if it emerged that the authorities
favoured signing a capitulatory peace agreement with Armenia on the basis of
the Minsk Group proposals".
But Aliev remains under enormous pressure from the international community.
During a European Union visit to the region, Anna Lindh, the Swedish foreign
minister, called on Azerbaijan to restore economic links with Armenia,
adding that that this could help the peaceful solution of the Nagorny
Karabakh conflict.
And, in Yerevan, Robert Kocharian faces the wrath of the Armenian opposition
in the event of a climb-down.
Galust Saakian, the leader of the Unity party, said that Armenia should
dictate its own terms over Nagorny Karabakh while the final solution to the
conflict should be decided by a national referendum. Saakian believes that
the Armenian enclave should be granted complete independence as any other
alternative would feed political tensions across the region.
Meanwhile Kocharian denies that he has any intention of agreeing to an
"unfavourable" solution. "I have given too much to the Karabakh war to
agree to that," he told the Armenian parliament. "I call on you to trust
me." But in the ongoing political deadlock, trust is in short supply.
Ara Tadevosian is director of the Armenian news agency, Mediamax
RECIPES FOR STABILITY IN THE CAUCASUS
Turkey makes an unexpected bid to assume the role of peacemaker in the
Nagorny Karabakh dispute
By Thomas de Waal in Istanbul
Since the idea of a "Stability Pact" for the Caucasus was first discussed at
the OSCE summit in Istanbul in November 1999, it has gone through as many
permutations as there are states in the region - and has widely been
dismissed as an impractical panacea.
A one-day "brainstorming session" held in the same city on February 17
failed to produce a breakthrough but it was a rare example of open dialogue
between people from the South Caucasus region who rarely talk to one
another.
If the main agenda was the "Search for Stability in the Caucasus", the
session boasted another important subtext. This was the first time senior
Armenian and Turkish officials had sat in the same room since a series of
resolutions in European parliaments had dubbed the 1915 massacre of
Armenians in Ottoman Anatolia "genocide", unleashing a wave of
recriminations across Turkey.
Although Turkey recognised Armenia's independence in 1991, it made no move
to establish diplomatic relations with Yerevan and closed its borders with
its neighbour in protest at Armenian occupation of areas of Azerbaijan
during the Nagorny Karabakh conflict.
However before the recent genocide debate arose, relations between the two
countries had shown signs of thawing whilst businessmen and politicians had
begun to exchange visits.
Speaking at the Istanbul meeting, Turkey's foreign minister, Ismail Cem,
made an unexpected bid to be a Karabakh peace-maker, proposing a trilateral
meeting between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. "I think that bringing
together officials from both countries with Turkey could seriously
contribute to the search for a solution," he said.
Neither Cem nor his officials made any attempt to flesh out his statement
and there was no indication that he was hoping to widen the bilateral peace
talks between Presidents Heidar Aliev and Robert Kocharian. In response, the
Armenian foreign ministry said that Turkish mediation over Karabakh was
impossible.
However, the proposal stood as a symbolic olive branch. Cem appeared to be
indicating that Turkey and Armenia needed to discuss how and when their
contiguous border would open in the event of a peace settlement.
The original structure for a security pact, as suggested by former Turkish
president Suleiman Demirel, was 3+3+2 -- the three South Caucasian countries
plus their three big neighbours, Iran, Russia and Turkey plus the European
Union and the United States.
The Centre for European Policy Studies, a Brussels-based think-tank,
expanded on this idea last year with a detailed -- and extremely ambitious
-- policy document that proposed the creation of a Southern Caucasus
Community, modelled on the European Union.
All of this was disputed in Istanbul. A Russian representative insisted on
talking about "the four Caucasian countries," emphasising that Russia also
has territory in the Caucasus, and also called for "cooperation against
terrorism" - a thinly veiled reference to Moscow's war in Chechnya.
Azerbaijan's deputy foreign minister, Araz Azimov, said that his country
could not accept the "stability of the status quo" -- in other words a deal
that froze Armenia's occupation of part of its territory and ignored
"sovereignty and territorial integrity".
Carey Cavanaugh, the US State Department's Special Negotiator for the Newly
Independent States, came up with a culinary metaphor that could overcome
these differences. What was needed, he said, was a "recipe for stability
where everything has to end up as the preparation of one meal", a process in
which every country would make its own unique contribution.
Non-governmental speakers drew attention to many of the obstacles to
integration in the Caucasus. German economist Friedmann Muller pointed out
that the South Caucasus was an "economically inefficient region" and the
joint GDP of the three Caucasian countries was just $11 billion, 6% of the
GDP of Turkey. "This is a question to be resolved from within the region and
not from outside," he said.
In an impressive intervention, Turkish historian Halil Berktay argued that
the modern states were crippled by the nationalist histories they were
teaching to their peoples. It was vitally important, he said, to reform
national education systems so as to "change the mutually hermetic insular
hate narratives upon which the state is predicated".
Berktay is one of the founders of a pioneering Joint History Project, which
brings together historians from the Balkans to examine these issues. He said
the same kind of forum was needed to remove nationalist propaganda from the
dark and complex history of the Caucasus.
The meeting ended with a commitment to continue the dialogue, although not
before several speakers had argued that the next session required the
participation of the three main separatist autonomous entities in the
Caucasus - Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorny Karabakh - none of whom were
represented on this occasion.
Thomas de Waal will be reporting from the Caucasus this year for the BBC
World Service and researching a book on the Karabakh conflict. He is
co-author, with Carlotta Gall, of "Chechnya: A Small Victorious War" (Pan).
IWPR'S CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, NO. 72
Copyright (c) IWPR 2000
[AFP] Azerbaijan's Aliyev leaves for Karabakh talks in Paris
Azerbaijan's President Heydar Aliyev left Baku
Saturday for Paris where he and his Armenian
counterpart Robert Kocharian are due Sunday to discuss
the future of Nagorno Karabakh at talks mediated by
French President Jacques Chirac.
The two former Soviet republics fought a three-year
war over the Armenian enclave, which proclaimed its
independence from Azerbaijan in 1991 with Yerevan's
backing, and a final settlement has proved elusive.
"We are going to talk to Kocharian about how to reach
a firm agreement for resolving the conflict in
Nagorno-Karabakh in a peaceful way," Aliyev said just
before he flew out of Baku airport.
"But when we will achieve the breakthrough, I cannot
say," he added.
France, along with Russia and the United States, is a
co-sponsor of the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe's Minsk group, which is
attempting to broker a lasting solution in the region.
Copyright 2001 Agence France Presse
ArmenTV: Karabakh marks 13th anniversary of Sumgait massacre
[HL Note: When an Armenian state TV channel cites the true number of
Armenian victims during the Sumgait events of 1988 - it is a landmark
event deserving publication and a major departure from years of propaganda
falsifications, when along with other facts, the casualty figures would be
doubled, tripled and even reach several hundreds. The much lesser-known
Azerbaijani side of the story has been presented in Habarlar-L with an
earlier posting of an excerpt from the Xalq Qazeti newspaper, which cites
interesting statistics. To learn about pure facts during and before
Sumgait, read "Myths Related to the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict"
Similarly, Armenian allegations about "Ganja pogroms" 1989 or events in
Baku in 1990 do not withstand factual evidence. Moreover, pogroms of
Azerbaijanis in Armenia, in the cities of Gugark, Spitak and others,
during all of 1988, with dozens of people brutally killed, are virtually
unknown, especially in the West, where they have been mentioned only by
RFE/RL and the UN.]
Source: Armenian TV Channel 1, Yerevan, in Armenian 1700 gmt 28 Feb 01
[Presenter] Today is the 13th anniversary of the massacre of Armenians in
Sumgait [Sumqayit]. According to official reports in 1988, 28 people [as
heard] were killed in this event. From that time on the words Refugees
from Azerbaijan became part of our vocabulary. Today 314,000 refugees are
living in Armenia.
[Reporter from Karabakh] The streets of Stepanakert [Xankandi] were also
full of people 13 years ago. There were unanswered questions on peoples'
faces 13 years ago. Reports from the Caspian shores were unbelievable. But
some time later this page of Armenian history will become known as the
Sumgait massacre. February 28 became a black day. Every year people go and
lay flowers at the monument commemorating the victims who won the right to
be called Armenians.
Early this morning people went to the memorial to the first victims who
fell for the independence of Karabakh. [Video shows people at memorial].
According to official reports in 1988, 26 people were killed [as heard]
while 400 people were injured.
[Oleg Yesayan, Nagornyy Karabakh parliament Speaker] Today Sumgait is a
reminder to us all of the necessity to be strong and unified in the
present circumstances, not only in wartime.
[Presenter] Commemoration of the Sumgait victims took place in all
districts of Karabakh.
March 02, 2001, Friday
BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
News referred from Habarlar-L