Deal 'in principle' agreed over occupied Karabakh

BAKU, Azerbaijan

A phased settlement to the conflict in occupied Karabakh has been agreed, a senior advisor to the Azerbaijani president said Wednesday.

Novruz Mammadov said an agreement-in-principle was reached in St. Petersburg, Russia, following talks involving Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Serzh Sargsyan, president of Armenia.

“The progressive settlement is, first, the evacuation of Armenian forces from five occupied provinces, then the evacuation from other two provinces [and] the determination of the corridor between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia,” he said at a news conference broadcasted on Azerbaijani TV.

“The sides have reached an agreement-in-principle.”

Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan in 1991 with Armenian military support and a peace process has yet to be implemented.

Since the end of war in 1994, Armenia and Azerbaijan have held talks under the supervision of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Minsk Group.