Minsk Group Co-Chairs to Discuss Peace Process in Paris

ArmRadio.am
02.08.2006 11:19

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs will assess the recent visit by US
Co-chairman Matthew Bryza to the region during a two-day meeting,
which was scheduled to begin today in Paris, reported Armenpress.

Bryza is going to present the results of his regional visit to
his French and Russian counterparts, Trend news agency reported.
Meanwhile, President Ilham Aliyev again rejected any resolution to
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that would not put Karabakh under Azeri
control ahead of talks with a visiting top US negotiator on Tuesday,
reported Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

"Azerbaijan will never- neither today, nor tomorrow and under no
circumstances – agree to Nagorno-Karabakh’s secession from Azerbaijan,"
Aliyev told his cabinet in remarks reported by Azeri newspapers on
Tuesday. "The issue of Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity can not be
a subject of negotiations."

Aliyev and his Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov were meeting
later in the day with Bryza. "I do not have much to tell you at the
moment," the Azeri ANS television quoted Bryza as telling reporters in
Baku. "Actually, there is nothing [new] to speak about." Aliyev has
repeatedly demanded restoration of Azeri control over Karabakh in
recent months amid fading hopes for an Armenian-Azeri agreement which
international mediators hoped will be signed this year.

However, a framework peace accord proposed by a team of American,
French and Russian mediators seems to allow for the possibility of
Karabakh’s independence or reunification with Armenia. The three
co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group favor a gradual resolution of the
dispute that would culminate in a referendum of self-determination in
Karabakh.Bryza confirmed over the weekend that under the terms of the
proposed deal, the disputed region’s status would be decided by the
"people of Karabakh." He indicated that this includes the region’s
former Azeri residents that were forced to flee their homes during
the 1991-1994 war.

Bryza spoke with RFE/RL in Yerevan after holding talks with President
Robert Kocharian and before proceeding to Stepanakert where he met
with the leadership of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic president Arkady Ghoukassian told reporters after the meeting
that he briefed Bryza on the Stepanakert government’s position on
the conflict which he said is "somewhat different from the approaches
favored by the co-chairs." "I think Mr. Bryza understands that it is
impossible to settle the conflict without Karabakh’s participation,"
he said. "Not only he but all the co-chairs realize that." However,
Bryza made it clear in his RFE/RL interview that it is the presidents
of Armenia and Azerbaijan that must have the final say in the peace
process. He downplayed in that regard the fact that he is apparently
the most high-ranking US government official to ever visit Karabakh.

"There is no statement of any sort that should be read from my visit
to Stepanakert other than that I am going there in my sole capacity
as a co-chair so I can understand better what the situation and what
the views are of the people that are living in Karabakh," Bryza said.