Baku Today, Azerbaijan
July 16 2004

Russian Co-chair of Minsk Group Implies Nagorno-Karabakh is not Part
of Azerbaijan

The Russian co-chairman of the Minsk group of the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Yuri Merzlyakov, on
Thursday said `Armenian troops’ withdrawal from Nagorno-Karabakh
would not mean its pulling out from Azerbaijan.’

The statement, which Merzlyakov made upon arrival in the Azeri
capital along with the Minsk group’s French co-chair Anri Jackelon,
caused anger in Baku as it directly implied that the Russian diplomat
does not see Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan.

Merzlyakov said that Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan’s other seven
occupied districts `are quite different issues.’

He said the Minsk group’s co-chairs have some new ideas about
peaceful resolution of the 16-year-long conflict. However, he added
that they do not have `any new proposals in the form of a project.’

The OSCE’s Minsk group, set up in April 1992, has been unsuccessfully
mediating peace talks between Armenian and Azerbaijan. Currently, the
body is co-chaired also by Stephen Mann from the United States.