CO-CHAIRS OF OSCE MINSK GROUP CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT TALKS PROSPECTS
armradio.am
07.11.2008 10:25
Last weekend’s Moscow meeting between the presidents of Russia,
Armenia and Azerbaijan gave the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group,
which deals with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, reason for cautious
optimism, the Co-Chairs told journalists.
Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov of the Russian Federation, Ambassador
Bernard Fassier of France and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Matthew Bryza of the United States, along with Ambassador Andrzej
Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office
on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, talked to journalists after their
address to the OSCE Permanent Council.
"There are personal factors and objective factors in the region that
give us Co-Chairs a reason for some cautious optimism or realistic
optimism," said Bryza.
"Among the personal factors, the 2 November Moscow meeting between
Presidents Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Sarkisyan of Armenia confirmed
the constructive spirit of their first St Petersburg meeting last
June. This constructive spirit allowed them to sign the first ever
declaration on the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process," Fassier said. The
discussions between Ankara and Yerevan were also among the positive
factors.
Among the objective factors, obviously, some elements changed since
the crisis in Georgia. The Co-Chairs said that Armenia felt the
fragile character of their lines of communication for imports and
exports through Georgia. Azerbaijan felt deeply the vulnerability of
the so-called energy corridor through Georgia.
Merzlyakov added: "This Moscow meeting, though prepared long in advance
in bilateral way, Russia-Armenia, Russia-Azerbaijan, nevertheless
is in the framework in the Minsk Group Co-Chair countries’ efforts
of mediation."
Kasprzyk noted that an estimated 25 people died this year on the
front lines of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and highlighted that
such incidents were detrimental to the peace process.
The Minsk Group Co-Chairs plan to visit the region in the weeks prior
to the OSCE Ministerial Council, scheduled in Helsinki on 4 and 5
December, to work with the parties to build on the recently-established
positive momentum and to try to find a mutually acceptable solution
to the last remaining differences between them.