The FINANCIAL -- Any solution to the Nagorny Karabakh conflict must ensure intermediary status for the disputed region, France's OSCE Minsk Group co-chair said on March 12.

Speaking during the 73rd Rose Roth seminar of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Yerevan, Bernard Fassier did not elaborate on what the "intermediary status" meant.

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharyan earlier suggested that the international community should start with legitimizing the current status of Karabakh and acknowledge that the region is no longer controlled by Azerbaijan.

A long-standing dispute over Nagorny Karabakh, a breakaway region inside Azerbaijan with a predominantly ethnic Armenian population, has been a sticking point in relations between the two South Caucasus states.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place in the region since a brutal war between the two countries over the disputed enclave in early 1990s, which claimed lives of more than 30,000 people on both sides. Nagorny Karabakh has since then remained under Armenian control.

Baku has fiercely opposed any decision on Karabakh that could be interpreted as giving the region independence from Azerbaijan.

Despite the mediators in the dispute - the United States, Russia and France - reporting some important progress after the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders met in Munich late last year, tensions remain high as both ex-Soviet Caucasus states continue to trade allegations of ceasefire violations.

Fassier said the Minsk Group co-chairs held six meetings between the two countries' presidents in 2009, and three more meetings were held at the initiative of the Russian president.

"The Madrid principles are on the table and the Minsk Group co-chairing countries adhere to the principles which is demonstrated by the Meindorf declaration and the statement of the heads of the Minsk Group co-chair states in L"Aquila", the French mediator said, adding it was a good time to activate negotiations on the issue.

He also said any decision taken by the mediators should ensure the security of Karabakh and the return of internally displaced persons.

The OSCE Madrid principles, adopted in November 2007, envisage a stage-by-stage resolution of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict that should start with the gradual liberation of parts of Azerbaijan bordering Karabakh that were partly or fully occupied by Karabakh Armenian forces during the 1991-94 war. In return, Karabakh should retain a corridor to Armenia and be able to determine its final status in a future referendum.

In January, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed a preamble to an agreement on Nagorny Karabakh, revising and updating the Madrid principles.

However, in late February, Azerbaijan renewed threats of military action to retake the disputed region over a lack of progress at talks with Armenia.

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