DID BRYZA SAY SO? HE DID, INDEED.

NEWS.am
11:16 / 08/10/2009

On August 8, Azerbaijani 1news.az source published a large article
under "Did Bryza say so?" head. The author, Vugar Seidov, queried
OSCE MG Co-Chair Matthew Bryza’s statement on Karabakh conflict
settlement. The information issued by NEWS.am was referring to the
competent Russian "Kommersant" daily, as well as REGNUM Russian
news agency.

Distrustful questions of Mr. Seidov recall the following Co-Chair’s
quotation: "The principle of territorial integrity will be reflected in
the return of 7 territories to Azerbaijan, with immediate return of 5,
the rest two will be returned in 5 years or later." In the essence,
the author queries the statement, suspecting NEWS.am of resorting to
‘cunning’. Mr. Seidov supposes we passed off own opinion as quote of
the official representative of the U.S. Department of State.

To assuage doubts of Azerbaijani author, we literally quote Matthew
Bryza’s statement: "… The principle of territorial integrity will be
reflected in a return of territories to Azerbaijan with 7 territories
of surrounding NK. These territories will be returned in a stages
way that President Aliyev described in July on public television –
with several 5 or 6 territories be returned immediately and one or
two, or part of one or another territory returned with some delay –
maybe 5 years, maybe another number of years. So we will also take
care of the principle of territorial integrity with a return of these
territories to Azerbaijan, when the final legal status of NK to be
determined at some point – I can’t say when, or we can’t say when
today at point when the parties all agree – through vote… " Thus,
obviously, the mechanism of NKR status determination and ensuring
of Azerbaijan territorial integrity are clearly differentiated by
the mediators. The possibility of Karabakh’s return under Azerbaijani
control as the guarantor of its territorial integrity is not discussed
at the negotiation table.

The full speech of Matthew Bryza delivered in Tsakhkadzor will
be published by NEWS.am. shortly. We hope inquisitive Azerbaijani
and Armenian journalists will succeed in finding a large number of
interesting emphasizes in it. Through analysis they might form a clear
view of the OSCE MG Co-chairs efforts and probable consequences of
their mediation attempts.