STATUS OF KARABAKH TOUCHSTONE OF TALKS – NAGORNYY KARABAKH LEADER
Arminfo
7 Jun 07
Yerevan, 7 June: Nagornyy Karabakh republic [NKR] president Arkadi
Ghukasyan met Yuriy Merzlyakov (Russia), Matthew Bryza (USA) and
Bernard Fassier (France), the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group,
tasked with the settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, at the
NKR mission to Armenia.
The parties discussed a wide range of issues dealing with the current
stage and the future of the Karabakh conflict settlement.
The co-chairs said that despite the fact that the negotiations process
goes slowly, they expect a progress from the conflicting parties. The
NKR president presented the position of Karabakh at the request of
the mediators. Ghukasyan pointed to the necessity to restore the
format of the talks set by the Budapest summit. He said that without
a full-fledged participation of Karabakh, the talks will not bring
desirable results.
He said that the status of Karabakh is the touchstone of the talks,
and the other issues are the result of the conflict.
[Passage omitted: Ghukasyan said the mediators should guarantee that
no force will be used by the conflicting parties.]