by Marcus Papadopoulos
Peace talks were held last week between the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia in the hope of preventing an outbreak of hostilities in one of Europe’s frozen conflicts – that of Nagorno-Karabakh.
President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and his Armenian counterpart Sergh Sarkisian met in Munich to try and find a solution to the unresolved dispute over the region.
The talks were billed as a last-ditch attempt to defuse tension in this part of the south Caucasus and maintain a Russian-mediated peace deal signed last year between Baku and Yerevan.
However, even before the talks had commenced, alarms were raised as a result of President Aliyev’s war-like talk. The Azeri leader warned: “If the meeting ends without result, then our hopes in negotiations will be exhausted and then we are left with no other option. We should be prepared for that. Work on building up our army over the last few years has been undertaken for a purpose.”
Yet despite Mr Aliyev’s threat to take back Nagorno-Karabakh by force, mediators reported after the talks that “significant progress” had been made. French mediator Bernard Fassier of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said: “Some important progress has been reached.” However, he warned that “difficulties” had been “identified”.
Following the conclusion of the meeting, the Azeri and Armenian presidents left without talking to reporters.
The mediators in these peace talks – Russia, the United States and the OSCE – are now planning another meeting. As yet, there are no details of when this might take place.
Turkey, which has some influence in the south Caucasus and enjoys close relations with Azerbaijan, said that peace could never be achieved in the region until “Azerbaijan’s occupied territories are liberated.”.
Demonstrating just how high emotions run over the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh, the day after the peace talks had ended, the spokesman for Armenian President Sarkisian said that, in the event of military force being used by Azerbaijan against the breakaway region, Armenia would recognise its independence. “Armenia cannot stay indifferent to the fate of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. We are responsible for the security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in the dying years of the Soviet Union following a declaration of independence from Azerbaijan by the Armenian majority in the region in 1988.
Full-scale fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan ensued and only ended after a Russian brokered-peace agreement in 1994 .
