YEREVAN AND BAKU AGREED TO CONTINUE DIRECT CONSULTATIONS
Gayane Movsesyan

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Oct 4 2006

According to the international mediators, the main obstacle to the
settlement is the lack of confidence between the parties.

The central goal of the OSCE Minsk group Co-Chairs’ visit to the
Karabakh conflict region has been achieved: an arrangement on the
resumption of the direct consultations between Armenia and Azerbaijan
on the principal issues of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement
has been reached. The RA and AR FMs’ current meeting will be held
in Moscow October 6. After that, in 7 – 10 days, the two countries’
FMs may hold another round of consultations with the mediators’
participation. Only after that the mediators may put forward a
proposal on the organization of a meeting of the Presidents Robert
Kocharyan and Ilham Aliyev, the OSCE MG Co-Chairs Yuri Merzlyakov
(Russia), Matthew Bryza (the U. S.) and Bernard Fassier (France)
stated yesterday in the course of a press conference held in Yerevan
on the outcomes of a meeting with RA President Robert Kocharyan,
with whom they had discussed the issues referring to the present
stage of the Karabakh talks. The OSCE Chair-in-Office’s Personal
Representative Andrzey Kasprzyk>>> also participated in the meeting.

At the press conference the Minsk group Russian Co-Chair Yuri
Merzlyakov stated an addition had been written to a basic
principle presented by the mediators to the conflict parties this
May. Y. Merzlyakov refused to go into detail, alluding to the
negotiation process’s confidentiality.

In the U. S. Co-Chair Mathew Bryza’s words, "the basic principles is
the best thing the mediators could offer, however, it does not mean
they are agreements".

The Co-Chairs underscored they had elaborated a common view on the
necessity to activate efforts to achieve the conflict’s settlement,
as they have been convinced of the readiness of Yerevan and Baku
to search for the ways of advance. Yet the mediators noted great
breakthrough could hardly be achieved in the near future. There are
some difficulties, and the principal one is the lack of confidence
between the conflict parties.

In this connection the OSCE Chair-in-Office’s Personal Representative
Andrzey Kasprzyk pointed out frequent cease-fire violations in
the conflict zone that resulted in victims from both parties. "The
cease-fire should be strengthened", A. Kasprzyk stated. Answering
the journalists’ questions, the French Co-Chair Bernard Fassier
categorically refuted the Azeri mass media’s information that being in
Baku the day before he had allegedly spoken against Nagorno Karabakh’s
return to the negotiating table. Matthew Bryza also refuted some
publications in the Baku mass media. In part, he allegedly said
the GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) countries’
initiative to discuss the issue on the protracted conflicts on the
countries’ territory at the U. N. would be useful for the process
of the Karabakh conflict settlement. However, Bryza actually said,
"the GUAM countries are not represented at the OSCE MG and the MG
co-chair countries hope the proposals they have offered are aimed at
the achievement of the conflicts’ just settlement".

Today the Co-Chairs will leave for Stepanakert to hold consultations
with the NKR President Arkady Ghoukasyan and other authorities of
the Republic.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress