RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, Czech Republic
July 27 2005

Mediators Report Optimism On Nagorno-Karabakh Dispute

Baku, 27 July 2005 (RFE/RL) — U.S. Undersecretary of State Paula
Dobriansky, who is on a visit to Baku, today said international
mediators were cautiously optimistic a breakthrough could be reached
soon in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

Addressing reporters in the Azerbaijani capital after talks with
President Ilham Aliyev, Dobriansky said recent consultations had
moved in a “very constructive and positive direction.”

“Our interlocutors who are directly involved with this issue — I am
not, but those who are directly involved in this issue have indicated
that they are cautiously optimistic. There will be a meeting next
month, in August, of both [the] presidents [of Armenia and
Azerbaijan], and it can potentially be a turning point.”

Aliyev is scheduled to meet with his Armenian counterpart Robert
Kocharian on the sidelines of a CIS summit in Kazan on 26 August.

The United States co-chairs with Russia and France the so-called
Minsk Group of nations mandated by the Organization for Cooperation
and Security in Europe to help Armenia and Azerbaijan find a solution
to their 17-year-old conflict.

The predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave of Karabakh seceded from
Soviet Azerbaijan in 1988, triggering military hostilities that
killed an estimated 35,000 people and drove tens of thousands of
civilians from their homes. Despite a 1994 cease-fire, Armenia and
Azerbaijan remain technically at war over Nagorno-Karabakh.