Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 23 2007

Matthew Bryza voices progress on a set of principles governing
Karabakh settlement

"While Azerbaijan has a long way to go on political reform,
Azerbaijan could potentially become the world’s first secular
democracy with a majority Shiite Muslim population," said U.S. Deputy
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, OSCE
Minsk Group American co-chair Matthew Bryza.

Touching on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and
Armenia, he said considerable progress has been made on a set of
principles governing a settlement, and he hopes for renewed momentum
after parliamentary elections in Armenia in May.

"We anticipate that right after the Armenian elections on May 12, the
both presidents will come back together. And we hope, we hope then,
that they’ll get close to finalizing the document. I don’t want to
say they’re going to finalize it, because it’s not fair to back them
into a corner. There are still some differences between them," he
added.

Internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan – an enclave
Nagorno Karabakh, and some other adjacent regions were occupied by
Armenia in early 1990s. The so-called Minsk Group of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was set up to seek a
negotiated peaceful solution between the two countries to the
dispute. The parties have not settled the conflict for years despite
regular meetings. APA