Karabakh mediators positive about outcome of regional visit
Mediamax news agency
15 Jul 05
Yerevan, 15 July: Yuriy Merzlyakov, Russian co-chairman of the OSCE
Minsk Group, said in Yerevan today that during the visit to the region,
the mediators and the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan discussed
“thoroughly and in detail” the “key elements of the basis of the
future settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict”.
Speaking at a briefing in Yerevan today, the Russian mediator said
that “we are currently working on formulations”. Merzlyakov said that
the key outcome of their visit to the region could be considered
an agreement on the holding of a meeting between the Armenian and
Azerbaijani presidents in Kazan late August. Prior to this meeting, the
two countries’ foreign ministers are scheduled to hold consultations
on 23 August in Moscow.
Commenting on the mediators’ meeting with the president of the
Nagornyy Karabakh Republic (NKR), Arkadiy Gukasyan, on 14 July in
Stepanakert, Yuriy Merzlyakov said that “while working on the options
of the formulations, we need to know the position of the Nagornyy
Karabakh leadership”. The Russian diplomat refused to comment on the
reports about the possibility of a referendum in Nagornyy Karabakh,
referring to the confidentiality of the talks.
Steven Mann, US co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, said there was
an opportunity to “achieve serious progress”. He said that the sides
to the conflict have managed to reach considerable progress over the
last year. Mann said that there were “very difficult issues” on the
negotiating table, however there was a “promising opportunity” to
reach a breakthrough in the peace process by the end of the year. At
the same time, the US diplomat said, “the existence of opportunities
does not guarantee that this will necessarily happen”. Anyway, Steven
Mann said, “today, the positions of the sides are much closer than
it was the case in summer or winter”.
Asked about the sides’ readiness to make concessions on vital issues,
Yuriy Merzlyakov said that “we have managed to reach the level at
which we work on formulations just because the sides have not only
shown readiness to compromise but have done so indeed”.