Armenia and Azerbaijan discussing terms of Nagorno Karabakh referendum

Nagorno Karabakh, a mountainous region in Azerbaijan, has been under control of Armenian and ethnic Armenian Karabakh forces since the 1994 end of a separatist war.

Years of negotiation have produced little visible sign of progress in resolving the dispute, which prompted Azerbaijan to close its borders with Armenia. But the presidents of both countries said this week that significant progress has been made.

Armenian foreign minister Vardan Oksanian said that the question of whether the region could be autonomous within Azerbaijan was a key issue in negotiations.

A resolution to this problem can be found only by a referendum, a proposal for which is contained in the document that the sides are discussing."

He said the referendum was proposed to take place "on the territory of Nagorno Karabakh, with people who live there and lived there taking part."

Nagorno Karabakh's ethnic Azeri population fled the conflict more than a decade ago and large numbers of them have lived as internally displaced people since then. The Associated Press

/The International Herald Tribune/