MINSK GROUP SEEKING ANOTHER KARABAKH SUMMIT

oup-seeking-another-karabakh-summit/
Sep 28, 2009

NEW YORK (Combined Sources)-International mediators said over the
weekend that they will visit Armenia and Azerbaijan soon to prepare
for the next meeting of the two countries’ presidents which they hope
will pave the way for a framework peace accord on the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict.

The American, French and Russian diplomats co-chairing the OSCE
Minsk Group met in Washington on Thursday to discuss details of
their upcoming trip both amongst themselves and with two senior
U.S. administration officials dealing with the South Caucasus.

"The Co-Chairs met with Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Senior
Director for European Affairs at the National Security Council and
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Tina Kaidanow," they said in a
joint statement issued on Saturday.

The three mediators also held separate talks with the Armenian
and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in New York the next day. "The
two foreign ministers and the Co-Chairs reaffirmed a commitment to
negotiations based on the Basic Principles [of Karabakh peace,] and
discussed upcoming travel of the Co-Chairs to the region in early
October," the statement said.

"As agreed in Moscow July 18, the Co-Chairs will travel to Armenia
and Azerbaijan to prepare for a proposed meeting between President
Aliyev and President Sarkisian in Chisinau on the margins of the CIS
Summit," added the statement. The summit of former Soviet republics
is scheduled for October 8-9.

"At this important moment in the negotiating process, the Co-Chairs
called on both sides to be constructive in their public statements,"
the statement said, referring to recent bellicose rhetoric from
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry.

The mediators hope that Aliyev and Sarkisian will iron out their
remaining differences over the settlement principles proposed by
them. The two leaders failed to do so at their last face-to-face
meeting held in Moscow in July. In an early August interview with
RFE/RL, the Minsk Group’s outgoing U.S. co-chair, Matthew Bryza,
insisted that they agree on the "fundamental concept" behind the
proposed settlement and are "coming close" to working out its
important details.

Still, Sarkisian sought to lower expectations of an impending
breakthrough in the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations when he addressed
Armenia’s top diplomats on September 1. The resolution of the Karabakh
dispute, he said, is "not a matter of days, weeks or months."

As agreed in Moscow July 18, the Co-Chairs will travel to Armenia and
Azerbaijan to prepare for a proposed meeting between President Aliyev
and President Sargsian in Chisinau on the margins of the CIS Summit.