Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr. E.Huseynov / The international mediators can develop a project for the Armenian-Azerbaijani peaceful agreement before the presidential election in Armenia, if both the sides agree upon the basic principals of the regulation of the conflict, Yuri Merzlakov, the Russian co-chairman of the group of international mediators stated to the Trend agency on 26 December.
The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs from the United States, Russia and France on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict submitted the written proposals for regulating the conflict, to Azerbaijan and Armenia during the meeting in Madrid in the end of November. Due to the confidentiality of the process, no details were announced on the issue.
"The proposals offer nothing new", stated Merzlakov.
Russian mediator stated that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs hope to get reaction of both the sides, during their visit to the region in the mid of the January. The opinions of the Azerbaijan and Armenian Foreign Ministers, 'the sides will study proposals', were announced during the meeting in Madrid. However.
The peaceful settlement of the conflict has been tried for the past 17 years.
Merzlakov did not exclude that the Presidents of the both countries may meet after the co-chairs visit to the region and consider the proposals. The co-chairs are planning to visit the Nagorno-Karabakh, during their visit to the region in the mid of the January.
Till now OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs submitted three proposals to both the sides, but two of them were not accepted by Armenia. Baku in its turn did not agree with the proposal, to establish a confederative state in the Nagorno-Karabakh.
The conflict between the two countries of the South Caucasus began in 1988 due to the Armenian territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since 1992, the Armenian Armed Forces have occupied 20% of Azerbaijan including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven neighbouring districts. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement which ended the active hostilities. The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France, and the US) are currently holding the peaceful negotiations.