ARMENIAN POLITICIAN CLAIMS US MEDIATOR’S PRO-AZERI STANCE

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
posted July 5 2006

Baku, July 4, AssA-Irada
The latest statements by the US mediator brokering settlement to the
Armenia-Azerbaijan Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh conflict "openly revealed
his slant toward Azerbaijan", an Armenian parliament member maintains.

The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and the new co-chair of
the OSCE Minsk Group (MG), Matthew Bryza, has told the press that
the mediators submitted a framework accord to the conflicting sides
and outlined its key principles, but added that the latter have yet
to accept it.

Armen Ashotian, who represents the Armenian Republican Party, said
the first part of the statement did not cover determination of the
Upper Garabagh’s status and the issue concerning the Lachin and
Kalbajar districts.

"There is a considerable difference between the statements of Bryza
and those of other MG co-chairs," the MP said.

He went on to say that the United States binds great hopes with its new
intermediary. He said international experience in the area of settling
conflicts over Georgia’s breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia enables a conclusion that "these hopes are not groundless".

Commenting on Bryza’s position on other issues, Ashotian said the
American mediator places a particular emphasis on launching dialogue
between Armenia and Turkey after the Garabagh dispute is settled and
normalizing relations between the two countries in the future.