SLOVENE FOREIGN MINISTER PLEASED WITH PROGRESS IN NAGORNYY KARABAKH TALKS

STA news agency, Ljubljana
5 Sep 05

Baku, 5 September: Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, the OSCE
chairman-in-office, said he was satisfied with the progress in the
talks on a resolution on Nagornyy Karabakh as he visited Azerbaijan
on Monday [5 September].

Speaking to the press after meeting Azeri counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov
in Baku – the first stop of his two-day tour of Azerbaijan and Armenia
– Rupel called on Azerbaijan to keep striving for a solution to the
conflict with Armenia in spite of the current election campaign.

Because of the 6 November parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan,
it is difficult to assess how the talks will progress, he said.

The Slovene foreign minister expects the two countries to continue
their dialogue on the matter, although he admitted that “it is clear
that serious open issues remain”.

The two sides agree on matters in principle, but a lot is open in
terms of the technical nature of the solution, he said.

Rupel also held talks with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, who briefed
him of the talks he held with Armenian counterpart Robert Kocharyan
on 27 August in Russia. Moreover, he met Azeri PM Artur Rasizada.

The Nagornyy Karabakh “is a long story with many components”, Rupel
stressed, adding that he doubted a solution could be reached during
Slovenia’s stint as OSCE president.

There is concern in the international community that the forthcoming
elections might derail the progress in the Nagornyy Karabakh talks,
as the conflict could become a tool for internal political purposes.

However, Mammadyarov downplayed the possibility of the conflict
becoming hostage to political campaigning in Azerbaijan. The
negotiations are continuing, however, the issue is so complex that
a solution cannot be reached in just a few days, he told the press.

[Passage omitted – background]

Meanwhile, the upcoming parliamentary elections figured highly in
Rupel’s talks with Azeri opposition officials and representatives of
NGOs, who presented their concerns regarding the elections.

According to Leila Yunus from the NGO Institute for Peace and
Democracy, non-governmental organizations have been barred from
overseeing the elections, which she believes is a sign that the
government does not want the poll to be free and fair.

Rupel said it was not the OSCE’s task to criticise but to offer
advice on elections to participating states. He added that he hoped
that certain problems regarding election teams and electoral rolls
would be resolved ahead of the poll.

Meanwhile, Mammadyarov said he was convinced the elections would
be free and fair. Admitting that Azerbaijan could not achieve
Western-styled democracy overnight, he pointed out that the elections
would be monitored by observers from the OSCE and the Council of
Europe.