ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI OFFICIALS VOICE POSITIVE NOTE AFTER MEETING ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH
The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune, France
Nov 16 2006
BAKU, Azerbaijan: Azebaijani and Armenian officials were positive on
Wednesday about the potential for resolving the simmering conflict
over Nagorno-Karabakh, a day after foreign ministers for the two
South Caucasus countries met for talks.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous region in Azerbaijan that has been
under the control of Armenian and ethnic-Armenian Karabakh forces
since a 1994 cease-fire ended a six-year separatist war that killed
about 30,000 people and drove about 1 million from their homes.
The region’s final status remains unresolved, and years of talks
under the auspices of international mediators have brought few
visible results.
Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian and his Azerbaijani
counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov, met for talks in Brussels on Tuesday
under the auspices of international mediators.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the talks had a
"very constructive character" and that progress had been made. The
ministry also said the countries’ presidents could possibly meet at
an upcoming summit of leaders from ex-Soviet republics.
On Tuesday, Yerevan issued a statement that also said the talks took
place in a "constructive atmosphere."
Neither ministry released details about the talks, but both noted
that mediators from the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe – which has long sought to resolve the
conflict – planned to travel to the region next week for meetings
with top officials.
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