They only issued a joint statement that was also signed by the heads of the U.S., Russian and French delegations at the summit. It said Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev “reaffirmed their commitment” to seek a peaceful settlement based on international law and “basic principles” advocated by the three mediating powers.

According to the statement, the signatories “agreed that the time has come for more decisive efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.” “They further agreed that a peaceful, negotiated settlement will bring stability and security and is the only way to bring real reconciliation to the peoples of the region,” it said.

The statement added that the mediators urged Aliyev and Sarkisian to “focus with renewed energy on the issues that still remain in the Basic Principles” and instructed U.S., Russian and French diplomats co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group to “continue to work with the parties to the conflict to assist in these efforts.”

“We must also renew our efforts toward a settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh based on basic principles elaborated under the auspices of the Minsk Group,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who heads the U.S. delegation at the two-day summit, said in separate remarks.

Clinton said the mediators continue to believe an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace accord must be based on six specific principles articulated by Presidents Barack Obama, Dmitry Medvedev and Nicolas Sarkozy in a joint July 2009 statement.

Among those principles is return of the territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijani control and an “interim status” for the Armenian-populated disputed territory that would guarantee its “security and self-governance.” The proposed peace framework also envisages that Karabakh’s final status, the main bone of contention, would be determined through “a legally binding expression of will.”

The mediators and Medvedev in particular hoped that Aliyev and Sarkisian will overcome their disagreements over key details of the proposed settlement in time for the Astana summit. However, the content of the five-party statement suggests that they failed to do that.

It is not clear whether Aliyev and Sarkisian met or will meet on the sidelines of the forum. Official sources in Baku and Yerevan reported no face-to-face talks between them as of late afternoon on Wednesday.

Aliyev reportedly met instead with about a dozen other foreign leaders, including Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia and Abdullah Gul of Turkey.

Copyright (c) 2010. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Original link: http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/2235977.html