Caucaz.com, Georgia
Aug 26 2005

Rice Hopeful About Crucial Armenian-Azeri Talks

Baku, August 26 – The United States underscored its hopes for a
breakthrough in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process Thursday when
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned Azerbaijan’s President
Ilham Aliev to discuss his upcoming crucial meeting with his Armenian
counterpart.

In a statement cited by the Itar-Tass news agency, Aliev’s office
quoted Rice as telling the Azerbaijani leader that she `attaches
great importance’ to the talks that are due to take place in the
Russian city of Kazan on Saturday. She was reported to express hope
that they will facilitate a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh
conflict, a key U.S. goal in the region. Aliev, according to his
press service, said he has similar hopes.

U.S., Russian and French diplomats spearheading the negotiating
process signaled last month that Aliev and President Robert Kocharian
could clear the final hurdle to peace in Kazan. U.S. Undersecretary
of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky similarly noted on July
27 their meeting `can potentially be a turning point.’

Preparations for that meeting were discussed by the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Moscow on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Vartan Oskanian and Elmar Mammadyarov sounded cautiously upbeat after
their talks held in the presence of the mediating troika.

Speaking to RFE/RL, Mammadyarov did not deny that the parties have
been discussing a peace deal that would enable the residents of
Karabakh to decide its status at a referendum.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress