BRYZA REFUTES THE STATEMENTS ON RETURN OF THE TERRITORIES
Kim Gabrielian

AZG Armenian Daily
02/07/2008

Karabakh issue

It is hard to assess the efficiency of the OSCE MG Co-chairs’ visit
to Stepanakert on Saturday.

Anyway, after the meeting with NKR President Bako Sahakian
the mediators were not in a good mood while meeting with the
journalists. French Co-chair Bernard Fussier with a certain reluctance
answered the question about his participation in the Azerbaijani
armed forces anniversary celebrations on June 26 in Baku. He mentioned
that it was not a participation but only a presence. What about the
motive, the French diplomat mentioned that there is a necessity to be
well acquainted with the military and financial opportunities of the
conflict parties, to assess the available facts in order to approach
the issue more efficiently.

To the question which are those Madrid principles that became a subject
for discussion in Baku, Yerevan and Stepanakert, the Co-chairs avoid
detailing; they only mentioned that the Azerbaijani and Armenian
authorities already came to an agreement about the prevailing part
of the 15 principles.

The principles were presented by the MG Co-chairs in November of
2007 and now there is a necessity to specify the conflict parties’
positions on the rest of principles, especially as the authorities are
changed in Armenia, US Co-chair Matthew Bryza said. He categorically
refuted the statements by the journalists as if saying that it would be
peace in the conflict region if the occupied territories are returned
to Azerbaijan.

The present stage may be qualified as a new start of the negotiations,
especially as the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents qualified the
St. Petersburg meetings as useful and constructive and made a request
for continuation of the negotiations, mentioned the Russian Co-chair
Yuri Merzlyakov adding that the mutual confidence between the parties
should be strengthened.

What about the possibility of Karabakh participation in the
negotiations, Mr. Merzlyakov said their viewpoint remains the same –
participation of Karabakh representatives will be of vital importance
at a certain moment, but before it some principles should be specified.

To the question of "Azg" daily how Matthew Bryza treats with
the possibility of Azerbaijani membership in NATO and whether it
will damage the negotiation process, the US Co-chair said that the
Azerbaijani membership in NATO is a question of future as Azerbaijan
didn’t officially express similar willingness. "It is not an urgent
theme as in Azerbaijan only individuals speak aloud of membership in
NATO", he added.