A MEETING OF AZERI, ARMENIAN PRESIDENTS WILL DEPEND ON FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS- OSCE CHAIR’S SPECIAL ENVOY
Author: A.Ismayilova

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Aug. 10, 2006

Trend’s exclusive interview with the special envoy of the OSCE
chairman-in-office, Andzey Kasprzyk

Question: After the Paris meeting the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs
immediately made a statement that the Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign
Ministers were proposed to meet in Prague in autumn. Is there any
agreement in this respect?

Answer: At present the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister, Elmar Mammadyarov,
is on a visit, while the Armenian FM is on holiday.

Therefore, we can’t hold any talks with the sides. At any case, the
achievement of an agreement on the meeting of the foreign ministers
depends on the interests of the sides. We will shortly discuss this
issue as soon as Mammadyarov is back.

Question: Do they prepare a meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian
Presidents? Did the co-chairs make any proposals in this connection?

Answer: The presidents meet periodically and frequently enough. The
Foreign Ministers prepare the meetings of the heads of state. Of
course, the dialogue of the Presidents will depend on further
developments linked with the coordination of the meeting by the
Foreign Ministers. There is no concrete idea on the next round of
talks between the Presidents. There is an opinion that some issues
should be discussed, while the way and the level of discussions will
be discussed by the co-chairs in a meeting with the ministers.

Question: Are the co-chairs expected to hold a private meeting with
the ministers?

Answer: Nothing is planned for the time being. I understand that
you’d like to hear the concrete date, but I can’t say. Now it is the
period of holidays. However, it does not mean that nothing is being
done. The issues discussed in Paris have been passed to sides and
now they consider some milestones.

I think we will find the moment and time for the meeting, while they
are still to be defined. The co-chairs’ activities are directed at
leading forward the issues which were not mulled. They try to bring
closer the positions of the conflict sides. That is their task.

Question: Do you feel proximity in the positions?

Answer: The co-chairs put forward different plans, which could
be taken as basis during the talks. The plans were rejected by the
sides. The Prague process, within the framework of which the meetings
of Ministers and Presidents are held, lasts too long. Though the
Presidents precisely retain their positions, considering it important
for their countries, no intension of the kind has been observed in
the talks earlier.

Question: There is an idea that following the replacement of the U.S.
Ambassador at the OSCE Minsk Group other co-chairs will also be
replaced. Could it affect on the process of talks?

Answer: There is nothing surprising. It is normal during the
carrier of a diplomat. I think it is not inked with the process of
negotiations. Every chairman is a personality. The general position
is defined by the co-chairs’ will on leading the process till the
end. Replacement of co-chairs means a new stance. The new diplomat
might see that which others could not, or simply approach from
private prism.

Question: You have developed a report on the results of monitoring
held on 3-5 July in the contact line in connection with firing in
the occupied territory of Azerbaijan. In what stage the question is?

Answer: At the request of the Azerbaijani side, I held a 3-day
monitoring in several places. Fires in the contact line are not
something unusual. Every year I observe over the fired sections. But
this time Azerbaijan prepared and submitted a very comprehensive
document for 2006. Besides I can assert that the spread of fires,
taking into cooperation the climatic conditions this year, is larger
than the usual. The figure concerns the regions, which are located
not too far from the contact line, but no economic activities are
conducted here. Besides the northern section, the fire also touched
the outskirts of Agdam. If fires reach any agricultural sections, it is
possible to think over cooperation in order to keep it under control.

The report has been submitted to the conflict sides and the
OSCE member-states. At present I am waiting for data on further
activities. If any of the sides put forward requirements, we will
take measures. The process is also hindered in the holiday period.

Question: When do you plan to hold the next monitoring?

Answer: Usually, we hold two monitoring a month. My team is comprised
of 5 people and two of them are on holiday at present. As soon as
they return [it will occur in late this August], I will be able to
hold a next-in-turn monitoring. In September it is planned to conduct
two monitoring more.

Question: Do you have any data on the injured and killed in the
frontline as a result of armistice breach?

Answer: Usually the sides inform me about the victims and the
injured. Such cases were relatively more when I came to the region
in 1996. Even then I told the Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosian
that as of the estimations of mine, the number of the victims and
injured from every side reaches 200 people. Afterwards, thanks to the
political will, it was possible to maintain the ceasefire regime and
my office played a considerable role in it. The cases of the violation
of ceasefire regime decrease every year. From time to time shooting
is heard in the definite sections due to different reasons.

Sometimes even the officers find difficult to halt the shooting,
especially when someone suffers. In these conditions my monitoring
is very helpful. My tour disciplines everyone.

At the moment it is more or less stable in the contact line. During
every visit to Baku, Yerevan and Karabakh I hold talks. I put every
effort to notify the officers and soldiers that no firing is allowed.

Question: What are the data for the year?

Answer: In the beginning of the year the situation was so tense,
but in the end of May it stabilized. I think, this year the injured
and the killed from both sides is around 20 people.

Question: Do the armistice breaches in the frontline impact on the
negotiations?

Answer: The violation of the ceasefire regime might hurt the talks.

If there is complication in the contact line and too many injured,
it will reflect in the mood of the population and affect the
negotiations. In this case it is very difficult to make a compromise.