Azeri minister blames OSCE Minsk Group for cancelled talks with Armenia

Azadliq, Baku
25 Mar 04

The meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers,
scheduled for 29 March in Prague, has been postponed. This was
announced on 24 March by the Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk
Group, Yuriy Merzlyakov, in an interview with Azerbaijani TV channel
ATV. He did not explain the reason, but said that one of the sides
wanted to cancel the meeting. In order to resolve the [Nagornyy
Karabakh] conflict, not only the Minsk Group, but Armenia and
Azerbaijan as well have to be more active.

In turn, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Vilayat Quliyev accused the
Minsk Group of being inactive and said that it was Baku which called
for the cancellation of the meeting.

Azerbaijan took this decision because the agenda of the meeting was
not specified. Quliyev blamed the Minsk Group for not putting forward
new proposals in the lead-up to such meetings to make them more
fruitful.