Presidents failed to reach agreement in Rambouillet

February 12
16:23

As ANS reports, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan failed to reach agreement Saturday after two days of talks on how to end the bloody conflict over the enclave of Nagorno Karabakh. Hopes have built in recent months for settling the 18-year dispute that has killed at least 30,000 people. Some 1 million people have been made refugees in the hostilities, which have also hindered investment in the strategic, oil-rich Caucasus region.

But international observers say that Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev made little progress during their face to face, closed-door negotiations at a chateau in Rambouillet, south of Paris.

"Despite intensive discussions, the positions of the parties on some difficult principles remained as they have been for some months," U.S., French and Russian mediators said in a statement.

But after several hours of meetings Saturday, the U.S. mediator, Steven Mann, emerged exhausted and said: "There was no agreement."

The sticking points were the future status of Nagorno Karabakh and whether Armenian forces would withdraw from the border town of Kelbajar, said a source close to the discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. A decade of international mediation has failed to end the conflict, which has hobbled peace efforts throughout the Caucasus.

Elmar Mammadyarov, Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan said seven issues out of nine have been agreed. Non agreed issues are return of refugees and IDPs and the issue of territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Mr.Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan would no longer go for any compromise. Parties agreed to hold meetings in the level of foreign ministers in Brussels and Washington. During these talks agenda of new discussions will be defined.
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February 11
22:43

As AzerTAg informs referring to the Press Service, then President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Armenia Robert Kocharian had face-to-face talk.

The Presidents discussed questions concerning settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno Karabakh conflict on the base of Prague process.

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As ANS informs, Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azeri President Ilham Aliev also met with U.S., French and Russian mediators, who have been pushing for a settlement for a decade. French President Jacques Chirac, who met separately with both leaders earlier, expressed hope that the talks in Rambouillet, south of Paris, will open "a new perspective for peace."

The talks close Saturday at the forest chateau at Rambouillet, a favored site for international peace negotiations. As the talks began Friday, mediators were more hopeful than they have been in years that a settlement is close.

The two sides have described any future agreement as "packaged and phased", suggesting that an international peacekeeping force would be required, the BBC's regional analyst Steven Eke reports.

Other key issues are:

1. The removal of Armenian occupying forces from the Azeri territory around Karabakh

2. The holding of a referendum by the territory's population, as a matter of self-determination.

The separatist Karabakh administration has said it will not accept any deal reached without its direct participation.

The scope for compromise is severely limited by public opinion in both countries, which firmly opposes any concessions, Steven Eke reports.

Nevertheless, a senior US State Department official said on Thursday the Rambouillet talks amounted to "the most important meeting in at least five years regarding this conflict".