Azerbaijan's FM: Sticking points remain on Nagorno Karabakh

Mammadyarov said Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed on the basic principles of the status of the mountainous region in Azerbaijan that has been under control of Armenian and ethnic Armenian Karabakh forces since the 1994 end of a separatist war, but differences remained over the speed of the pullout of Armenian troops from the province.

"Displaced people cannot go back when Armenian forces are still there," Mammadyarov said on the margins of a security meeting. About 30,000 people were killed in the 1994 war and 1 million displaced from their homes.

Mammadyarov added that the two sides have agreed on the need for the presence of international peacekeepers and quick rebuilding of infrastructure in the region.

But he condemned Armenian plans for a constitutional referendum in Nagorno Karabakh on Dec. 10, saying Azerbaijan is still not convinced Armenia is sincere about its determination to resolve the conflict. The draft constitution says that "Nagorno Karabakh Republic," also called the "Republic of Artsakh," is a sovereign democratic nation.

On Monday, Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oksanian told the conference of foreign ministers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's member states that hopes are high for a lasting solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Oksanian said last week's meeting of presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan "gives hope that agreement is possible even on the most problematic issues on which we don't see eye to eye."

Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht said there is a "clear engagement to come to an agreement in the course of next year." The Associated Press

/The International Herald Tribune/