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OSCE Minsk Group: same old talks and nothing new at all

There are 10 proposals included in the package provided by the OCSE
Minsk Group to Oskanyan and Mamediarov. One of the proposals though is
not agreed upon, since it is a rather fundamental one and most
probably it is the proposal about the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.
29.11.2007 GMT+04:00

On the initiative of the OSCE Minsk Group in the evening of November
28 a meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and of
Azerbaijan took place in Madrid. Three issues were on the agenda of
the meeting; general questions regarding the session of the chairs of
the OCSE Minsk Group, the Declaration of the summit under discussion,
where the status of the conflict issues are mentioned, and finally the
uncoordinated issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan regarding Karabakh
conflict regulation.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Honestly speaking, nothing new from this meeting
should ever be expected. And the fact that the OSCE Minsk Group handed
two written proposals on the regulation of Karabakh conflict to both
countries, is not new.

Later the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of both countries had a meeting
with the OSCE Minsk Group with the presence of Minister of Foreign
Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov and the Under Secretary of State for
Political Affairs Nicolas Burns. According to the American mediator
Matthew Bryza, the co-chairs proposed a number of aspects in the
frames of basic agreement. `We hope that both presidents will be able
to solve these issues before the presidential elections. The aim of
the meeting is introducing the Ministers our proposals and they, in
their turn, will take those proposals to their Presidents. Over the
last three months we have actively participated in the negotiation
process on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict regulation. Today we suggest the
parties compromise solution. We want them to come to an agreement over
basic principles during several weeks and months before the election
campaign,’ announced Bryza. But the whole question is that Presidents
of Armenia and Azerbaijan do not have these weeks or months. Robert
Kocharyan leavs and naturally he will not sign anything. Ilham Aliyev
most probably stays, but will not sign anything either, and will
threaten with war >From time to time, but this time via the Minister
of Defence Safar Abiyev. Commenting on the statements of the Ministry
of Defence of Azerbaijan Safar Abiyev about the big probability of war
between the conflicting parties, Matthew Bryza mentioned: `This
process has lasted for more than 10 years and we all realize that the
resolution of the conflict is possible only in peaceful.’ According to
the Press-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan,
there are 10 proposals included in the package provided by the OCSE
Minsk Group to Oskanyan and Mamediarov. One of the proposals though is
not agreed upon, since it is a rather fundamental one and most
probably it is the proposal about the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

This meeting tempts us to draw a parallel with Kosovo
regulation. Having failed all the negotiations over the Kosovo
problem, the EU and the USA have decided to accelerate the decision
making over the Karabakh issue. Everybody spoke about it in
Madrid. `For the regulation of `frozen conflicts’ it is necessary to
display political will and generosity. To achieve peace between our
nations it is necessary to have the will of carrying negotiations, as
well as political courage to solve conflicts including those in
Moldova, Georgia and Nagorno-Karabakh,’ announced the Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Spain Miguel Angel Moratinos

He was supported by the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Goran Lennmarker, underlining that for the resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict there is this so called `golden chance’. In
his opinion all the conditions for the peaceful regulation of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are provided. The interesting thing is that
in the beginning of the year everybody was talking about the `window
of opportunity’, now they are talking about the `golden chance’. In
both cases the wishful thinking is taken for the reality, for the most
interested party, Nagorno-Karabakh is being ignored.

In his turn the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, the President
of the Council of European Union Luis Amado called upon Armenia and
Azerbaijan to fully get involved in the negotiations. `The OSCE Minsk
Group and its three co-chairs have worked hard on choosing fair and
balanced principles of regulation of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The EU
supports the continuation of the dialogue between Armenia and
Azerbaijan and would like to use this opportunity to call both parties
to complete involvement in the resolution process,’ announced the
President of the Council of European Union.

Most likely the USA were so happy with the results of summit on
Near-Eastern regulation in Annapolis, that they decided to resolve the
`frozen conflicts’ in CIS countries by the end of Bush’s
presidency. The American Administration hopes the agreement between
Israel and Palestine may be reached during a year, before George Bush
leaves his post in 2009. However, everybody forgets that the
Arab-Israeli conflict started in 1948; 60 years have passed since
then… «PanARMENIAN.Net» analytical department