OSCE MG former plan to be submitted to Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Sochi

PanARMENIAN.Net - "Intensified high-level contacts between Baku and Yerevan seem to indicate a serious progress in the looking for a compromise to resolve the Karabakh problem. However, judging from the information received by "Wremya Novostey" "from sources close to the Armenian-Azerbaijani talks, the situation looks not so optimistic." The same peace plan, proposed by OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by Russia, the USA and France, is on the negotiating table. The highlights of the current agenda are the following: how to combine the requirement of Baku to withdraw Armenian forces from territories around Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia's desire to hold a referendum on the status of Nagorno Karabakh, Arkady Dubnov wrote in his article "Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss Karabakh in Sochi".



According to him, the decision to expedite the Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani summit was likely agreed by all parties earlier this week after a working visit of Serzh Sargsyan to Moscow, and his meeting with Dmitry Medvedev.



"The need in such acceleration can be explained by the pursuit of some participants of talks to link the Karabakh conflict settlement with Armenia-Turkey reconciliation. This was evidenced by signing the Protocol on establishing diplomatic relations and the Protocol on the development of bilateral relations by Armenian and Turkish Foreign Ministers on 10 October in Zurich.



Documents must be approved by the parliaments of the two countries. Since their ratification in the Armenian parliament is not problematic for Yerevan, given the small number of opposition, it was assumed that the protocols would be submitted to the Turkish parliament first.



However, diplomatic sources say "WN", in any case, Moscow would not encourage the parties to compromise only for helping the Turks to solve their local problems. Turkey must hold parliamentary elections in 2011, and they are likely to take place this year, making the ruling party led by Recep Erdogan, to achieve tangible success in such sensitive matters for Ankara, as relations with Azerbaijan and Armenia. Recently, the situation around Zurich protocols suddenly deteriorated after the decision of the Constitutional Court of Armenia on 12 January about conformity of these documents with the RA Constitution. The court found it necessary to point out that "the priority provision of the protocols is the actual opening of the Armenia-Turkey border and all other obligations acquire legal force only in case of open borders between Turkey and Armenia," the author wrote.



Karabakh- Azerbaijani conflict started in 1988. In response to peaceful demands of the Armenians of Karabakh, constituted 80 per cent of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region (Nagorny Karabakh), Azerbaijan had unleashed aggression against the peaceful population. As a result of the national-liberation war of 1991-1994 Nagorno Karabakh Republic was proclaimed. NKR Defense Army has also established a security zone around Nagorno Karabakh, including the 7 regions. On May 11, 1994, agreement was reached on the cease-fire (Bishkek Protocol). Currently, France, the United States and Russia, OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs are involved in the settlement of the conflict.



The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE, now Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)) to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.



The Helsinki Additional Meeting of the CSCE Council on 24 March 1992, requested the Chairman-in-Office to convene as soon as possible a conference on Nagorno Karabakh under the auspices of the CSCE to provide an ongoing forum for negotiations towards a peaceful settlement of the crisis on the basis of the principles, commitments and provisions of the CSCE. The Conference is to take place in Minsk. Although it has not to this date been possible to hold the conference, the so-called Minsk Group spearheads the OSCE effort to find a political solution to this conflict.



On 6 December 1994, the Budapest Summit decided to establish a co-chairmanship for the process.



Implementing the Budapest decision, the Chairman-in-Office issued on 23 March 1995, the mandate for the Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Process.



The main objectives of the Minsk Process are as follows: Providing an appropriate framework for conflict resolution in the way of assuring the negotiation process supported by the Minsk Group; Obtaining conclusion by the Parties of an agreement on the cessation of the armed conflict in order to permit the convening of the Minsk Conference; Promoting the peace process by deploying OSCE multinational peacekeeping forces.



The Minsk Process can be considered to be successfully concluded if the objectives referred to above are fully met.



The Minsk Group is headed by a Co-Chairmanship consisting of France, Russia and the United States. Furthermore, the Minsk Group also includes the following participating States: Belarus, Germany, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Turkey as well as Armenia and Azerbaijan. Current Co-chairmen of the Minsk Group are: Ambassador Bernard Fassier of France, Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov of the Russian Federation and Ambassador Robert Bradtke of the United States.



The Madrid document contains the proposals put forward by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs on the basic principles of a settlement. The document was presented to the Armenian and Azerbaijani representatives at the OSCE summit in the Spanish capital in November 2007.



Protocols on the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations have been signed on October 10, 2009 in Zurich by the foreign ministers of Armenia and Turkey, Edward Nalbandian and Ahmet Davutoglu in the presence of the foreign ministers of France, the United States, Russia and Switzerland after a series of diplomatic talks held through Swiss mediation since 2007. According to the Protocols, diplomatic relations should be established between the two countries and the mutual border, closed by Turkey since 1993, should be opened. On January 12, 2010 Armenian Constitutional Court acknowledged the constituency of the Protocols.