The Prague Process was a series of negotiations between 2002 and 2007 over

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked region in the South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik, and covering the southeastern range of the Lesser Caucasus mountains. The region is m ...

between the

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

n and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

i foreign ministries. It was followed by the

Madrid Principles The Madrid Principles, last updated in 2009, are proposed peace settlements of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group. the OSCE Minsk Group is the only internationally agreed body to mediate the negotiations for the peac ...

History

It began in May, 2002, with the meeting of Personal Representatives of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Deputy Foreign Minister

Tatoul Markarian Tatoul Markarian ( hy, Թաթուլ Խիկարի Մարգարյան; born April 1964) was appointed Armenian Ambassador to the United States on March 19, 2005, by President Robert Kocharian. He holds the diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinar ...

and Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov at Stirin, outside Prague, under the Chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group. A second session talks was held in late July. The Prague Talks, as announced by the US State Department in September, 2002, would serve as a vehicle for continued communications between the parties as both Armenia and Azerbaijan hold presidential elections in 2003. The process was later continued by Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan Vartan Oskanian and Elmar Mammadyarov who had their first meeting in Prague in April 2004. The process was mediated by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. According to the

OSCE Minsk Group The OSCE Minsk Group was created in 1992 by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), now Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the conflict between Az ...

report, a new method of negotiation involved "no agenda, no commitment, no negotiation, but a free discussion, on any issue proposed by Armenia, Azerbaijan, or by the SCE Minsk Groupco-chairs". The first round of Prague Process culminated in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

on May 15, 2005 by meeting of

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev ( az, İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev, ; born 24 December 1961) is the fourth president of Azerbaijan, serving in the post since 31 October 2003. The son and second child of the former Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev, ...

and Robert Kocharyan. The four meetings between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, conducted within the Prague Process framework, allowed the methodical re-examination of all negotiational parameters. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed that if a settlement is reached, five of the seven Armenian-occupied

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is c ...

s adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh will be returned to Azerbaijan and international peacekeepers will be deployed.

References

External links

Elkhan Mehtiyev, "Armenia-Azerbaijan Prague Process"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prague Process (Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations) First Nagorno-Karabakh War Armenia–Azerbaijan relations Negotiation 2004 in the Czech Republic History of Prague 2004 in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

History

See also

References

External links