Armenian-Azerbeijanian negotiations

[MJ]

Armenia and Azerbaijan Signal Progress in Talks on Enclave

 

The New York Times

February 20, 2001

 

By DOUGLAS FRANTZ

 

ISTANBUL, Feb. 19 - After seven years of an uneasy truce and stalled peace

talks, signs of progress have emerged in the dispute between Armenia and

Azerbaijan over the enclave of Nagorno-Artsax.

 

Diplomats said recent events had indicated movement toward solving a problem

that has created at least a million refugees in the two countries and

threatened stability in the Caucasus and neighboring Turkey.

 

President Robert Kocharian of Armenia and President Heydar Aliyev of

Azerbaijan met last month in Paris. Western diplomats said the two were

expected to meet again within the next month for further talks.

 

President Jacques Chirac of France met them in Paris and telephoned

President Bush on Feb. 1 to brief him. The call was confirmed by a

spokeswoman for Mr. Chirac.

 

Western diplomats said that Mr. Chirac and Mr. Bush had discussed

Nagorno-Artsax at length and that the French president was guardedly

optimistic about a possible settlement. With municipal elections approaching

in France, Mr. Chirac would like to have a settlement to offer the 400,000

ethnic Armenians in France.

 

The State Department special negotiator for Nagorno-Artsax, Carey

Cavanaugh, refused to confirm the call, but said in an interview here that

France, the United States and Russia were involved in intense talks on a

possible solution.

 

The three countries form the Minsk group, which is trying to negotiate a

settlement under the sponsorship of the Organization for Security and

Cooperation in Europe.

 

A flurry of other diplomatic activities is widely expected in the coming

weeks. The Swedish foreign minister is scheduled to visit Armenia and

Azerbaijan as part of that country's presidency of the European Union.

Officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe plan

a three-day swing through the Caucasus next week.

 

Relief organizations are also beginning to assemble a multibillion- dollar

regional aid package in the event of a settlement. As many as one million

refugees were displaced by six years of fighting, and the basic

installations of Nagorno-Artsax have suffered severe damage.

 

Details of the talks between Mr. Kocharian and Mr. Aliyev have been closely

guarded. Both leaders face opposition at home if they are seen as giving

away too much. Diplomats said the two wanted to work out a complete package

of aid to go along with any settlement.

 

Along with Mr. Chirac's involvement, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia

visited Azerbaijan last month and told Mr. Aliyev that Russia was ready to

guarantee installing a peace settlement.

 

The fighting began in 1988, when the ethnic Armenians in the enclave

declared independence from Azerbaijan. About 35,000 people died before a

truce in 1994 that left the region under the control of separatist ethnic

Armenians supported by Yerevan.

 

There have been sporadic clashes along the border, though the Azerbaijan and

Armenia defense ministers agreed in December to improve communications in an

attempt to avoid violence.

 

On Saturday, Turkey proposed a high-level meeting with Azerbaijan and

Armenia to discuss a settlement. Turkey is an ally of Azerbaijan, but does

not have diplomatic relations with Armenia. "Officials of both countries and

Turkey in a trilateral setting would be a serious contribution to finding a

solution," Foreign Minister Ismail Cem told a conference on stability in the

Caucasus.

 

An Armenian foreign ministry official attending the conference, Samuel

Mkrtchian, played down prospects for a trilateral meeting.