OSCE MG FRENCH CO-CHAIR: TIME TO MAKE VERY IMPORTANT DECISIONS LIKELY TO COME SOON

DeFacto Agency
Sept 17 2008
Armenia

STEPANAKERT, 17.09.08. DE FACTO. In the evening of September 16
the OSCE Minsk group French Co-Chair Bernard Fassier arrived in
Stepanakert.

A meeting of the French Co-Chair with the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
President Bako Sahakian was held within the frames of the visit. To
note, the meeting lasted over 2 hours. The meeting was followed by a
briefing, in the course of which Bernard Fassier answered journalists’
questions.

"Do not search for artificial difficulties, we have quite real ones",
the OSCE Minsk group French Co-Chair Bernard Fassier told journalists
in Stepanakert on September 16 answering a question concerning the
fact why the Co-Chairs had arrived in Stepanakert separately, and not
together. He expressed hope that next week all the Co-Chairs would
manage to be together in New York to organize Armenian and Azeri
FMs’ meeting.

According to DE FACTO own correspondent in Stepanakert, speaking of
situation in Georgia Bernard Fassier noted that the armed conflict
had showed that "a war is a suicide, which we have been speaking
about for three years".

Commenting on the fact that Russia had recognized the independence
of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the Karabakh settlement’s context,
Bernard Fassier noted that each conflict was different. In the
diplomat’s opinion, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is not a conflict between
Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan only, but also between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, which distinguishes it from other ones.

The French mediator stated Karabakh conflict settlement should be
based on Madrid proposals, and it is time to consolidate triennial
work’s result. "President Aliyev is in Moscow at the moment, he has
already met with President Medvedev, there are shifts within the
frames of relations between Armenia and Turkey, and time to render
very important decisions is likely to come soon", Bernard Fassier
said. Our task is to enable Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents to
meet after elections to be held in Azerbaijan".

The diplomat said that at the meeting held with the NKR President he
had discussed the situation in the region created after the events
that had taken place in August, adding that it should not affect the
talks, however, additional steps must be undertaken.

Commenting on Turkey’s initiative to activate the negotiation process
Bernard Fassier noted "it does no threaten Minsk group, and any efforts
of good will, which could be useful for the talks, can be welcomed".