ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN FAIL TO OVERCOME DIVIDE IN TALKS; ARMENIAN FM

Agence France Presse — English
March 14, 2007 Wednesday

Armenia’s Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said Wednesday talks with
his Azeri counterpart in Switzerland over the disputed enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh had failed to overcome deep differences.

"Although there is clearer understanding of each other’s positions,
one thing is evident that there are deep differences," Oskanian
said in a statement after he met Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Elmar
Mamedyarov in Geneva.

However the two ministers did decide to hold a further meeting in
April, which could lead to talks at a presidential level, the Armenian
envoy added.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s break from Azerbaijan in 1991 precipitated a
full-blown war between the former Soviet republic and its neighbour
Armenia, claiming some 25,000 lives before ending with a ceasefire
in 1994.

The region’s status remains unsettled, despite years of diplomatic
talks.