Armenian ministry questions Azeri report of US-French-Russian secret talks

Arminfo
19 Jul 06

Yerevan, 19 July: The Armenian Foreign Ministry has questioned the
authenticity of a report by the Azerbaijani newspaper Ayna, quoted by
Radio Liberty, saying that "Washington has launched secret talks with
Moscow and Paris in order to expand the composition of the OSCE Minsk
Group co-chairs on the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict".

"We doubt the authenticity of this report. It is impossible to
change the composition of the co-chairmen without the consent of the
conflicting parties," Vladimir Karapetyan, acting press secretary of
the Armenian Foreign Ministry,
has told our Arminfo correspondent.

According to diplomatic sources, the Azerbaijani newspaper maintains
that the USA wants to see Britain, Germany and Turkey among the
co-chairmen. "If the negotiations are successful, the conflicting
parties will be informed about this," the newspaper reports.

At the same time, the author of the article expressed his doubts that
the negotiations will yield results soon, since Armenia is against
expanding the format of the co-chairmen.