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

Nagorno-Karabakh Nagorno-Karabakh (, ; ) is a region in Azerbaijan, covering the southeastern stretch of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Part of the greater region of Karabakh, it spans the area between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik. Its ter ...

between the

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

n and

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

i foreign ministries. It was followed by the Madrid Principles.

History

It began in May, 2002, with the meeting of Personal Representatives of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Deputy Foreign Minister Tatoul Markarian 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 located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. 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 ...

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, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

on May 15, 2005 by meeting of Azerbaijani President

Ilham Aliyev Ilham Heydar Oghlu Aliyev (born 24 December 1961) is an Azerbaijani politician who has been the fourth president of Azerbaijan since 2003. He is also the leader of the New Azerbaijan Party since 2005. The son and second child of former Aze ...

and Armenian President

Robert Kocharyan Robert Sedraki Kocharyan ( ; born 31 August 1954) is an Armenian politician. He served as the President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from 1994 to 1997 and Prime Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh from 1992 to 1994. He served as the second Presiden ...

. 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) Armenia–Azerbaijan peace process Negotiation 2004 in the Czech Republic History of Prague 2004 in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

History

See also

References

External links