Iran proposes ancillary mechanism to Minsk Group to help Karabakh settlement

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tells his Azeri counterpart about a proposal by Iran that foresees the Islamic Republic, Turkey, and Russia boosting a standing so-called Minsk Group that has failed to resolve decades of territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

According to Press TV, Zarif made the remarks to Jeyhun Bayramov in a phone call on Thursday that the two were holding over a late September-present deadly flare-up between Republic of Azerbaijan and Republic of Armenia over the Karabakh region. 

The region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but is populated by Armenians and sought after by Armenian separatists.

Iran has been offering diplomatic intervention and inviting the two sides to exercise restraint since September 27, when the separatists in the region began opening fire on Azeri forces.

With hundreds of civilians and armed forces feared dead from the two sides, the firefight has proven the deadliest conflict between the two sides since 1992, when Armenians invaded the region with Yerevan’s backing and forced Azeris into a retreat.

Zarif’s offer came as decades of mediation by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group -- a body formed among Russia, France, and the United States to supposedly remedy the conflict -- has unexceptionally fallen short of the goal.

The Iranian foreign minister reiterated the Islamic Republic’s principled position concerning the conflict, insisting on the need for respect for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

For his part, the Azeri official notified Zarif about the latest field developments in the conflict.

The two top diplomats also stressed the importance and role of regional initiatives to resolve this decades-long crisis.

SS