Analysis: Armenia, Azerbaijan In Fresh Talks On Karabakh
By Harry Tamrazian
Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
Aug 31 2004
Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and his Azerbaijani
counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov met yesterday in the presence of
international mediators for a third time in as many months, but again
left no indications of an imminent breakthrough in the unresolved
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The daylong meeting again took place in the Czech capital Prague
and was attended by the French, Russian, and U.S. co-chairs of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk
Group. It was the first face-to-face encounter between Oskanian and
Mammadyarov since the envoys’ visit to the conflict zone last month.
“We are continuing what we began at our first meeting,” Oskanian told
RFE/RL during a lunchtime break in the talks. “Our main objective is
to create a common basis upon which we could build during further
negotiations. We are working toward that objective and I can’t say
we have achieved it,” he added.
Asked whether the two sides have made any progress in the last few
months, he said: “It’s a bit early to speak of common approaches. But
the dialogue is useful.”
While touring Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Nagorno-Karabakh in late July,
the mediators openly criticized the conflicting parties for their
perceived intransigence. The troika said bluntly that the onus is
on them, not the Minsk Group, to push the protracted peace process
forward.
The co-chairs were earlier said to be working on a new peace plan that
would try to combine the so-called step-by-step strategy of conflict
resolution preferred by Azerbaijan with the Armenian side’s insistence
on a package deal that would settle all issues simultaneously. But
they declined to comment on this report.