NEW "WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITIES" – ON EVE OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, THIS TIME
By A. Haroutiunian

AZG Armenian Daily
25/05/2007

Yuri Merzliakov, Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, during a
joint press conference with his French colleague Bernard Fassier,
announcing the coming visit of all the three Co-Chairmen to South
Caucasus, stated that his meeting with President of Armenia Robert
Kocharian had been rather effective. Merzliakov had also met with
the Prime Minister of Armenia and other high-ranking officials.

"At present most important is that President Robert Kocharian,
during the informal summit of the CIS member-states Presidents in
Saint-Petersburg, gave positive response to the proposition about
the necessity to organize another meeting of the Presidents of
Armenia and Azerbaijan," said Mr. Merzliakov. "As it seems to us,
certain progress has been achieved and we hope that it will find its
development during our negotiations in Baku," he added.

Speaking of the issue of the problems of refugees, Merzliakov said
that during the discussion the refugees should not be sorted by their
ethnicity. He said that an opportunity of returning home should be
granted to each refugee.

During the meetings in Yerevan Merzliakov and Fassier made clear
for themselves that the parliamentary elections on May 12 were
a step forward in the right direction. Nevertheless they did not
make any comment on the statements by Azerbaijani authorities about
the elections in Armenia and the positive estimations by European
organizations.

To a question by "Azg" reporter about President Aliev’s declarations
about war as an alternative way of resolution of the Karabakh conflict,
Bernard Fassier replied that he has neither read nor heard any of
those statements. He assured that neither of the Co-Chairing states
of the Minsk Group is considering war an appropriate way of resolving
this conflict.

Most probably the Kocharian and Aliev will have to meet once more
after the meeting intended to be held in St.-Petersburg. According
to Merzliakov, the Minsk Group has not made any propositions about
the main terms of conflict settlement for almost a year and those are
already known well and have been ascertained. "There are some nuances,"
he said, "the negotiations on presidential level are conducted mostly
about the details, while we expect more global political approach
from the Presidents."

Yuri Merzliakov noted that it seems that the matter of facts is about
signing an agreement by the end of the year. "We are working on the
main principles of the settlement of the conflict. If this process goes
on, it will be possible to elaborate the text of the agreement, which
is to be much and hard worked upon, but which shall not be refused by
the sides, as it had been before," said the Co-Chairman. He expressed
hope that the document will express the interest of both the sides,
as far as possible and will be just and balanced.

Fassier in his turn said that unless the main terms are settled by the
end of 2007, the negotiations shall be started anew after the pause
during presidential elections in Armenia and parliamentary elections
in Azerbaijan. According to Merzlaikov there is 90% chances that this
year the main terms will be finally settled. He said that very little
of the principles have not been made agree yet. Merlziakov noticed
that the disagreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan is mostly about
the details of the main terms and principles and that the disagreement
in details can still complicate the process of elaborating the text
of the peace agreement.

Speaking of the participation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic to
the negotiations, Bernard Fassier reminded, "The representatives of
Nagorno-Karabakh have taken part in the negotiation process in the
past, and it were not the Minsk Group Co-Chairmen who decided to
change the state of things. Nowadays the situation has changed. The
Co-Chairmen consider that at a certain phase of the talks the
participation of the representatives of Karabakh, by the consent
of both the sides, shall be not only desirable, but also extremely
useful and even perhaps become top-priority."
From: Baghdasarian