WPS Agency, Russia
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
January 16, 2009 Friday

SOLUTION TO KARABAKH PROBLEM REQUIRES A DIFFERENT FORMAT OF
NEGOTIATIONS AND RECOGNITION OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH AS SIDE OF CONFLICT

OSCE Minsk Group chairmen Matthew Bryza (USA), Yuri Merzlyakov
(Russia), and Bernard Fassier (France) will arrive in Armenia on
January 20.

The new phase of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement may see the format of
the talks amended. The negotiations are currently convened by Armenia
and Azerbaijan. Karabakh has been denied the status of a side in the
conflict since 1998. Formally, its nonparticipation is ascribed to the
fact that Robert Kocharjan elected president of Nagorno-Karabakh in
1996 eventually became prime minister of Armenia and finally its
president. Kocharjan himself volunteered to represent both Armenia and
Nagorno-Karabakh in the talks.

Armenian experts meanwhile claim that the format of the talks defines
configuration of the conflict and therefore ways and means of its
settlement.

Even international brokers insist on Nagorno-Karabakh’s participation
in the talks. Meeting with Karabakh lawmakers in December 2008,
Fassier said that "… Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh should settle this
matter."

Source: Kavkazsky Uzel, January 13, 2009

Translated by Aleksei Ignatkin