MEDIATORS ‘SATISFIED’ WITH TRIP TO ARMENIA, KARABAKH

1998103.html
30.03.2010

"After the recent meetings between the Co-Chairs and the parties in
Paris and in the region, the Co-Chairs note with satisfaction the
commitment of the parties to reach a peaceful settlement within the
framework of the Madrid Principles," they said in a joint statement
issued after a visit to Stepanakert and Yerevan.

The co-chairs met with the leadership of the unrecognized
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic at the weekend and held talks with President
Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian in Yerevan
on Monday.

The statement said they further discussed "Armenian comments on the
Basic Principles" that were modified by the mediating powers late
last year. It give no details.

Yuri Merzlyakov, the Minsk Group’s outgoing Russian co-chair, said in
Stepanakert that Yerevan disagrees with some points of the "updated"
peace plan. He downplayed the unspecified objections, saying that they
do not bode ill for the success of the protracted negotiating process.

The statement did not say whether the mediators will make additional
changes in the so-called Madrid Document to make it more acceptable to
the Armenian side. Nor did it mention the possibility of yet another
meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in the coming weeks.