Paper reports details of Azeri, Armenian foreign ministers’ Berlin talks
Source: Ekspress, Baku
20 Nov 04
The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers held a meeting in Berlin
yesterday [19 November]. The sides discussed options for the settlement
of the Karabakh conflict and the break in the peace process [after
the Astana meeting between the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents
in September 2004].
The talks were held with the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen in
attendance. It was [Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar] Mammadyarov’s
fifth meeting with his Armenian counterpart. Their last meeting took
place in Prague on 30 August [2004].
A 15-minute meeting
The Berlin meeting lasted for just 15 minutes. The one-to-one talks
started at 1130 Baku time [0730 gmt] and continued at 1140 [0740 gmt]
with the co-chairmen in attendance. Following that, the sides ended
the meeting with no public statements.
A press release by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s press centre
simply says that “the sides exchanged views on the issues that topped
the agenda of the Prague talks”.
Following the talks, Minister Mammadyarov left Berlin for New York
to attend the 23 November discussions of point No 163 on the agenda
of the UN General Assembly session entitled “On the situation on
Azerbaijan’s occupied territories”.
[Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan] Oskanyan is accompanying
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan who is on a working visit to
Germany. Briefing the Berlin media, Oskanyan said that during the
meeting with Mammadyarov, the sides made “a number of successful
and objective decisions” to continue the dialogue “based on existing
realities”.
“Specific issues were spoken about and discussed during the talks,”
Oskanyan told the journalists in Berlin commenting on his talks with
Mammadyarov (ArcNews). “We decided that we can continue the Prague
process again,” he added.
The meeting touched upon the upcoming discussion of the Karabakh
issue at the UN General Assembly as well. Oskanyan said that the
“possible impact” of this issue on the peace talks “should be taken
into account” and made a number of proposals, Ekspress newspaper
learnt from diplomatic sources. These proposals included “initiatives”
like setting the date for the next meeting of the heads of state and
rejection of the UN discussions.
In addition, in Berlin Oskanyan admitted for the first time that
during their meeting in Prague, the ministers discussed the return
of a number of Azerbaijan’s [occupied] districts: “It was simply
impossible to arrive at a common conclusion because of the variety
of scenarios. In addition, our talks have not fully ended yet and
discussions in this direction may continue”.
The meeting also discussed the recent tension on the front line
and the so-called youth forum held by separatists in Karabakh. The
Azerbaijani side expressed its protest to Yerevan on both issues.
“It was decided to take these issues seriously and to take into account
their impact on the talks. I hope that cases of this kind will stop,”
the French co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Henry Jacolin, said
after the meeting.
The dialogue is resuming
In his interview with A-Info news agency before the meeting with
Mammadyarov, Oskanyan said that the conflicting sides were “close”
to settling the problem several times, but there were disagreements
on the status of Nagornyy Karabakh.
[Passage omitted: details of Oskanyan’s interview with A-Info]
Henry Jacolin’s office reported that during the Berlin meeting, “the
co-chairmen received a signal on the continuation of the dialogue”
between Mammadyarov and Oskanyan. Presumably, the ministers’ next
meeting may be held within the framework of the OSCE foreign ministers’
meeting in Sofia on 7 December.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress