OSCE MINSK GROUP DISCUSSES KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT IN YEREVAN

ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 25 2006

YEREVAN, May 25 (Itar-Tass) – Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group have
met to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

Co-chairs – Yuri Merzlyakov of Russia, Bernard Facier of France and
Steven Mann of the U.S. – are accompanied by Russian Deputy Foreign
Minister Grigory Karasin, Director General for Political and Security
Affairs of France Stanislas Lefebvre de Laboulaye and U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried.

Earlier on Thursday, they met with Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan
Oskanian.

“Our joint mission is an extraordinary event. It shows that we are
serious in our intention to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and
are confident that we’ve entered such a stage, where it is possible
to reach a mutually advantageous agreement,” they said in a joint
statement on Wednesday.

“It will depend only on Azerbaijan and Armenia whether we’ll reach
such an agreement or not,” they said. “The conflict should be settled
only by peaceful means.”

All meetings and talks in Yerevan are held behind closed doors. The
co-chairs are expected to make a short public statement later in
the day.