By David M. Herszenhorn
The presidents of the United States, Russia and France
issued a joint statement on Monday calling for a peaceful settlement to the
more than 20-year war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed
territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Clashes along the Azerbaijan-Armenia border have
intensified in recent weeks, with soldiers killed on each side. The renewed
fighting, in violation of prior ceasefire agreements, has stirred fears of
wider bloodshed and drawn international condemnation.
The statement issued by the three presidents, Barack
Obama, Vladimir V. Putin and François Hollande, at the Group of 20 meeting in
Mexico, faulted the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan for not following steps
toward an agreement urged last year. The statement called on them to move
swiftly to make “the important decisions necessary to reach a lasting and
peaceful settlement.”
The United States, Russia and France co-chair the Minsk
Group, which was created in 1992 by the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe to help settle the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute.
“Military force will not resolve the conflict and would
only prolong the suffering and hardships endured by the peoples of the region for
too long,” the presidents said. “Only a peaceful, negotiated settlement can
allow the entire region to move beyond the status quo toward a secure and
prosperous future.”
The unity on addressing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
provided a glimmer of consensus between Mr. Obama and Mr. Putin whose
face-to-face meeting on Monday was largely characterized by their disagreement
over how to handle the conflict in Syria.
The Nagorno-Karabakh dispute, however, has proved largely
intractable. The statement in Mexico followed an earlier meeting on Monday in
Paris between ambassadors from the United States, Russia and France and the
foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The meeting seemed to yield little
progress.
In a statement, the three ambassadors said they had
discussed the recent fighting on the front lines as well as the creation of a
mechanism to monitor ceasefire violations and ways to preserve sites of
historic and cultural value. Officials from the Minsk Group said they planned
to travel to the region to follow up.
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