TIME OUT IN KARABAKH RESOLUTION
Azat Artsakh Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
08 Sept 05
The CIS summit in Kazan, Russia, and the longed-for meeting of the
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan marked the end of the summer
holiday in the diplomatic camp of Armenia. One thing is obvious
today. The opinion of the political scientists who insisted that the
meeting in Kazan would be a turning point in the resolution was, to
put it mildly, exaggerated. However, as the foreign minister of
Armenia states, although the longed-for turning point did not occur,
the meeting was useful to the process. Remaining faithful to the
principle of confidentiality of the process, the foreign minister did
not give any detail of the meeting, mentioning only that there is
always the danger of reaching a deadlock which did not happen in
Kazan: `We are not deadlocked.’ Most probably, the Azerbaijani side
is not discontent with the meeting in Kazan either. Moreover,
according to the foreign minister of Azerbaijan E. Mamedyarov, the
talks in Kazan are a step ahead; however it is early to consider real
progress. By the way, if after the meeting in Kazan the Armenian
foreign minister mentioned that the present stage in the resolution of
the conflict does not allow giving more detail about it to the people
of Armenia and Azerbaijan and though the meeting of Kocharian and
Aliev was not a turning point, the talks were positive, the
Azerbaijani side was of a different opinion. Following the tradition,
the Azerbaijani side again neglected the confidentiality of the talks,
and the Foreign Ministry announced that the parties allegedly
discussed 7 ` 9 elements of the resolution, namely `the liberation of
occupied areas, the return of refugees and restoration of
communication between Azerbaijan and Nakhijevan’ and there is progress
in reference to certain elements too. According to the foreign
minister of Armenia, there was progress for the Armenian side as well,
however, unlike his Azerbaijani colleague, Vartan Oskanian does not
give details except that the concern that the sides may reach a
deadlock rising before each meeting of the presidents, did not come
true. And, most probably, the next meeting of the ministers will take
place no sooner than in a month because Yerevan and Armenia need time
to analyze the results of the meeting in Kazan. Before this the
foreign ministers of the two countries will share their opinions with
the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the foreign Minister of Slovenia Dimitrij
Rupel who is visiting Armenia on these days. The department of press
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia informed that the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office is to meet with the presidents of the Republic of
Armenia and NKR, the prime minister of Armenia, as well as the foreign
minister of Armenia. The results of the meetings are to be summed up
at the press conference on September 6. After the visit of the OSCE
Chairman-in-Office to Yerevan and Baku the co-chairmen will prepare
the recurrent meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia and
Azerbaijan, which may take place at the end of September or at the
beginning of October.
CHRISTINE MNATSAKANIAN.
08-09-2005