“As I said earlier, we continue to believe that the key to a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future in the region is a negotiated, comprehensive, and sustainable settlement of all remaining issues related to or resulting from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” Tracy told the Armenpress news agency in an interview published on Thursday.
“Self-determination of peoples is a key, though not the only, internationally recognized principle to achieve this goal, and, in the context of a comprehensive settlement of the conflict, the United States … recognizes the role of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh in deciding its future,” she said.
In her words, the other guiding principles for such a settlement are territorial integrity of states and non-use of force.
The three principles cited by Tracy were at the heart of a framework peace deal that was first put forward by the U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group in 2007 and repeatedly amended by them in the following decade. The proposed deal, known as the Madrid Principles, reportedly stipulated, among other things, that Karabakh’s predominantly Armenian population would determine the territory’s status in a future referendum.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly said that Azerbaijan’s victory in the 2020 war in Karabakh put an end to the conflict. He has demanded that Armenia recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh through a bilateral peace treaty.
By contrast, U.S. and French officials have said that the Karabakh dispute remains unresolved.
“Indeed, it is U.S. policy that the status of Nagorno-Karabakh remains to be resolved,” Tracy told Armenpress, repeating her earlier statements criticized by Baku.
“We encourage further peace negotiations and stand ready to engage bilaterally and with like-minded partners, including through our role as an OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair,” she said.
The envoy also emphasized that “there is no military solution to the conflict.”