Interfax, Russia
May 7 2009

Azeri, Armenian president meet in Prague

PRAGUE May 7

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev met
at the U.S. Embassy in Prague on Thursday, a Prague-based source told
Interfax.

Asked by Interfax before an EU Eastern Partnership summit to comment
on the meeting results, Sargsyan said it passed "positively."

Western media reported that U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Matthew Bryza, who is also a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group,
attended the meeting behind closed doors between Aliyev and Sargsyan.

Azeri, Armenian president meet in Prague (Part 2)

PRAGUE May 7

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev met
at the U.S. Embassy in Prague on Thursday, a Prague-based source told
Interfax.

Asked by Interfax before an EU Eastern Partnership summit to comment
on the meeting results, Sargsyan said it passed "positively."

Western media reported that U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Matthew Bryza, who is also a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group,
attended the meeting behind closed doors between Aliyev and Sargsyan.

Interfax reported earlier that the Azeri and Armenian leaders had
agreed to hold another round of negotiations on the settlement of the
Nagorno-Karabakh problem in Prague on Thursday.

The parties should continue coordination of key principles offered to
them by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in Madrid in late 2007.

Azerbaijan and Armenia confirmed that they had reached an
understanding on a number of these principles but still disagree on
the most sensitive issues.

The stumbling block in the talks is Nagorno-Karabakh’s legal
status. Baku insists that the conflict be settled with Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity preserved, with which most of the international
community agrees, while Yerevan believes the settlement should be
based on another principle of international law, i.e. nations’ right
to self- determination.

va