OSKANIAN AND MAMEDYAROV TO MEET IN PARIS

Azat Artsakh – Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
13 June 05

On June 8th the foreign minister of Armenia Vardan Oskanian left for
Vienna to take part in the meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.
According to the department of press and information of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, after the meeting with the co-chairs
the foreign minister of Armenia left for Washington for a two-day
visit. On June 11 – 14 the minister is visiting Peking where he
meets with the prime minister of China Ven Xia Bao and foreign
minister Lee Xiao Sin. On June 15th Vardan Oskanian will arrive in
London where he will deliver a speech on the Armenian Genocide at the
House of Lords. On June 16th and 17th V. Oskanian will be in Brussels
where at the meeting of NATO he will officially present the IPAP.
Then he will present the portfolio of the proposals of the Armenian
party of the Programme of Actions of Armenia. The last visit of the
foreign minister of Armenia will take place in Paris where he will
meet with the foreign minister of Azerbaijan E. Mamedyarov on June
18th in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. According to the
Azerbaijani mass media, the ministers will discuss the issues
outlined in the Prague meeting on January 11th, 2005. Some time ago
the vice foreign minister of Azerbaijan Araz Azimov said that the
previous meeting of the vice ministers was in the framework of the
stage by stage transformation of the conflict, which means returning
the regions under the control of the Armenian side to Azerbaijan, the
return of the Azerbaijani population, re-establishment of regional
relationships, decision on the status of Nagorno Karabakh. In his
turn, foreign minister E. Mamedyarov stated that allegedly Armenia is
willing to return the occupied 7 areas, which is a matter of time.
The foreign minister of Armenia denied this news, saying, “As to
the statements of the Azerbaijani side about returning the areas
controlled by the Armenian side, they do not correspond to the
reality.” In the meeting of the presidents of Armenia and
Azerbaijan in Warsaw, Vardan Oskanian stated that after this meeting
new opportunities have come about the public discussion of which may
cause misunderstanding and have a negative impact on the progress in
the talks. Nevertheless, as the foreign minister of Armenia stated,
currently the following issues feature in the talks: the status of
Nagorno Karabakh, the return of the areas adjacent to Nagorno
Karabakh, the return of the refugees, and security. These issues are
closely interrelated and, hopefully, the upcoming talk between
Oskanian and Mamedyarov will pass in this context.

CHRISTINE MNATSAKANIAN.
13-06-2005