ARMENIA, AZERBAIJAN FAIL TO SECURE BREAKTHROUGH OVER PROVINCE

Agence France Presse — English
June 13, 2007 Wednesday 5:04 AM GMT

A weekend meeting between Presidents Robert Kocharian of Armenia and
Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan failed to achieve a breakthrough on the
status of the mountain territory of Nagorny Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s
foreign minister said.

"No breakthrough was achieved at talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan
in Saint Petersburg," Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov told
journalists here on Tuesday.

The two presidents held a two-hour one-on-one meeting on Sunday during
an informal gathering of heads of state of the CIS (Commonwealth of
Independent States) group of ex-Soviet countries in Saint Petersburg,
Mammadyarov said.

Western diplomats have indicated that an agreement could be signed
by the end of this year on basic principles for resolving the dispute
over Nagorny Karabakh.

The two ex-Soviet states have remained at loggerheads since they
fought a war in the early 1990s, with corrosive effects for the whole
Caucasus region.

Mammadyarov said the two sides need time to "analyze the situation"
before continuing talks.