PRESIDENTS OF AZERBAIJAN AND ARMENIA MAY TAKE PLACE IN NEAR FUTURE

DEFENSE and SECURITY
April 16, 2008 Wednesday
Russia

American chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Matthew Bryza, maintains
that a meeting between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia
may take place in the near future. The presidents will discuss
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.

"The presidents told OSCE Minsk Group chairmen at the NATO summit in
Bucharest that a meeting might take place soon," Bryza said.

TrendNews agency reported Bryza evading questions on details of the
forthcoming meeting between Ilham Aliyev and Serj Sarkisjan.

Khazar Ibragim of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said negotiations
were only possible if "Armenian occupiers released the territories they
seized and Armenia recognized territorial integrity of Azerbaijan."

The widely discussed opinion in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh these
days is that the negotiations have been making no progress and that
Karabakh itself should discuss the matter with Azerbaijan instead
of Armenia. What information is available indicates that Yerevan and
Stepanakert are working on this treaty nowadays.

Armenian then president Robert Kocharjan visited Nagorno-Karabakh on
March 31 and said Armenia had two options to choose from: it could
either recognize sovereignty of Nagorno-Karabakh or sign a collective
defense treaty with it.