Karabakh Agreement Signed

This just in!

At Sunday's talks hosted at Meiendorf Castle, the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed "to speed up further moves in the negotiating process" over Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in a statement.

The two country's foreign ministers would work with Russia, the US and France, co-chairmen of the Minsk Group of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which is seeking a diplomatic solution to the conflict, he added.

Sounds like a waste of time to me, unless one side gives up. We all know it won't be Azerbaijan and we all know that Serzh has indicated that he would trade or willingly give up some lands altogether.

Probably a non-event, but we'll see.

Source: BBC News

Armenia & Azerbaijan Close to Peace Deal

Call me a pessimist, but I don't believe that.

"They don’t agree 100 percent on the basic principles [of a peaceful settlement,] but they are close, very close," said Matthew Bryza, a deputy assistant secretary of state and the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group. "They agree on the philosophy of the basic principles and most of the basic principles themselves."

Presidents Ilham Aliev and Robert Kocharian were already widely expected to reach a framework agreement on Karabakh early last year. But two rounds of face-to-face negotiations between them collapsed due to last-minute disagreements.

Words are words: I won't be convinced until there is a deal that makes sense. And for that, we may have to wait - possibly indefinitely.

By the way, is Kocharyan showing the middle finger to Aliyev behind his back? Look at the picture again.

Source: ArmeniaLiberty

Armenia & Azerbaijan Discuss Nagorno-Karabakh

It's about time that this issue be resolved, once and for all.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov will meet today with his Armenian counterpart, Vartan Oskanyan, in Moscow to discuss a settlement to the bitterly dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azeri territory occupied by Armenian troops...

The meeting will be a part of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group, co-chaired by Russia, France and the United States, which has been attempting to broker a settlement to the dispute for more than a decade.

Let's hope some good comes from this meeting. War is not what we need.

Source: Turkish Daily News