Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
Jan 18 2008

Co-chairs say in Azerbaijan all their statements misreported in
Armenia

[ 18 Jan 2008 12:41 ]

The co-chairs of OSCE Minsk Group have today arrived in Baku, APA
reports.The American co-chair Matthew Bryza told journalists that
they had discussions with Armenian President Robert Kocharian and
Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan.

Noting that the discussions were constructive, the co-chair said
there is still much to be done.
`Hard to say whether any agreement will be reached by the
presidential elections in Armenia in February. The meeting of
Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers has not been planned yet.
The main thing is that the co-chairs and the parties have time to
continue the discussions,’ the co-chair said.
Taking a stance on his statements in Armenian media about the
relations of Azerbaijan and Turkey, Matthew Bryza said that he had
not made such a statement.
`My opinion was misreported,’ he said.
As to the co-chairs’ visiting Khankendi through Armenia, not through
Azerbaijan, Matthew Bryza said this route was more favorable.
`It was a little bit difficult to do it through Azerbaijan. We always
get Azerbaijan’s consent, when we visit Khankendi through Armenia. We
will never visit Khankendi without Azerbaijan’s consent,’ he said.
Matthew Bryza said Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents and Foreign
Ministers are aware of the details of the negotiations.
`Only the parties have the right to share this information. Armenian
side may have informed the representatives of Nagorno Karabakh about
it,’ he said.
French co-chair Bernard Fassier stated that discussions carried out
in Yerevan and Khankendi were interesting and constructive.
`I am sure that, we can continue our work. This work will be based on
proposals presented to sides in Madrid. These proposals were
explained to sides and we have learned the position of the sides. We
stressed that, we need a time to consider position of the sides,’ he
said. Co-chair compared this situation with looking painting at a
short distance.
`For example, you can see only one of the details of painting when
you looked from short distance. But when you looked from long
distance you can see everything. We want to look at the results of
negotiations from that point of view,’ he said.
Russian co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov took stance on Armenian media’s
reports that sides agreed with the core principles.
`I have not said such word. If it was so, we should not come here.
Position of Armenia and Azerbaijan does not coincide. We have not
proposed the meeting of Foreign Ministers of both countries yet,’ he
said. Merzlyakov took stance on reports about participation of
Nagorno Karabakh in the negotiations and noted that his opinions on
this issue have already been distorted.
`We said many times that all sides should participate in the talks.
When? It will be when core principles are coordinated,’ he said. Ask
whether participation of Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh is
possible or not he said that this is Azerbaijan’s domestic problem.
If Azerbaijan wants, Azerbaijani community of Nagorno Karabakh may
participate in the debates./APA/
From: Baghdasarian