ALIEV, KOCHARIAN ‘MAY MEET AGAIN THIS YEAR’
By Ruben Meloyan
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug 3 2007
The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan may meet again this fall
in yet another attempt to reach a framework peace agreement on
Nagorno-Karabakh, a senior U.S. negotiator reportedly said in Baku
on Friday.
Azerbaijani media quoted Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew
Bryza as saying that the meeting could take place in October or
November.
Bryza, who is also the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, was
reported to have made the statement after talks with Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov. He was received by President
Ilham Aliev on Thursday.
The U.S. official arrived in Baku from Moscow where he discussed with
the Minsk Group’s Russian and French co-chairs the latest impasse
in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks. Visiting Armenia on Monday, he
indicated that the conflicting parties are unlikely to cut unpopular
peace deals before the start of presidential elections due in both
Armenia and Azerbaijan next year.
According to the Azerbaijani news agency Trend, Bryza sounded more
optimistic on that score in Baku, saying that the mediators should
use the limited time remaining before the presidential races to again
try to get the parties to sort out their remaining differences on
the Minsk Group’s existing peace proposals.
The mediators hoped that Aliev and his Armenian counterpart will
eliminate those differences at their most recent meeting held in the
Russian city of Saint Petersburg in June. However, the two leaders
failed to make further progress in the talks, all but dashing hopes
for a near-term solution to the Karabakh conflict.