KARABAKH TO JOIN TALKS, SAYS NEW RUSSIAN CO-CHAIR
Asbarez
Apr 29th, 2010
STEPANAKERT (Combined Sources)-Karabakh should take part in the
ongoing peace process at a certain stage of the talks, new OSCE Minsk
Group Co-chairman Igor Popov told reporters Thursday after talks with
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic President Bako Sahakian, reported news.am.
The Azeri foreign ministry was quick to comment with its spokesperson,
Elkhan Polukhov, insisting that the so-called Azeri community of
Karabakh would also be part of the talks.
"Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that at some stage both Armenian and
Azeri communities of Nagorno-Karabakh will undoubtedly be involved in
the negotiations on resolution of the Karabakh conflict to determine
the future status of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity," said Polukhov.
After meeting is Yerevan with President Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign
Minister Eduard Nalbandian, Popov traveled to Stepanakert and met
with Sahakian. The two discussed a wide-range of issues including
the imperative for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, Karabakh’s
socio-economic situation and progress in the reconstruction of the
Stepanakert airport.
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s Foreign Minister Georgi Petrossian also
took part in the meeting.
"I am in a mood to make every effort to have the conflict resolved as
soon as possible," Popov also told journalists afterwards, reported
RFE/RL.
Popov paid his first visit to Armenia and Karabakh in his current
capacity one week after accompanying the Minsk Group’s outgoing Russian
co-chair, Yuri Merzlyakov, on a trip to Baku. The two diplomats were
joined there by their U.S. counterpart, Robert Bradtke, and received
by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
In a subsequent joint statement also signed by the group’s French
co-chair, Bernard Fassier, the mediators spoke of "a new impetus to
the advancement of a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict on the basis of the Madrid Principles." They said they
will meet in Vienna early next month to brief the Minsk Group on the
current status of the Karabakh peace process.