PEACEFUL AGREEMENT NOT READY YET

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12-07-2005

Upon completion of the meetings with the Azeri leadership the Minsk
Group Co-Chairs rendered a press conference. Russian Co-Chair Yuri
Merzlyakov said, `The draft agreement will hardly be ready by the
meeting of the Armenian and Azeri Presidents in Kazan. We are working
at the formulation and principles of the settlement. The process of
their coordination will probably take several months.’

`Peaceful agreement can be prepared as within the next several months
as within the next century. The terms depend on the political will of
the leaders and people’, the US Co-Chair added.

French Co-Chair Bernard Fassier shared the opinion. In his words, the
Minsk Group is a mediator only while the Presidents are responsible
for the establishment of peace.

The mediators reported that during the negotiations with the
Azerbaijani leadership the issue of opening communications between
Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan via Armenia and Karabakh. In their opinion
when the issue is urgent it will be advisable to include the Armenian
and Azeri communities of Karabakh in the process.