NO GROUND TO SPEAK ABOUT BREAKTHROUGH IN KARABAKH PEACE EFFORTS, SPOKESMAN SAYS
ARMENPRESS
Oct 29 2007
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 29, ARMENPRESS: A spokesman for Armenian foreign
ministry said today there is no ground to speak about a breakthrough
in the efforts to find a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Vladimir Karapetian, who is also head of the foreign ministry’s
department for public affairs, told Armenpress minister Vartan Oskanian
met on October 27 in Yerevan the cochairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group
who revisited Yerevan after a trip to Azerbaijan.
He said the peace brokers from Russia, USA and France have stepped
up their efforts through a shuttle diplomacy to help the sides to
narrow their differences on a framework agreement.
"The process goes on and we expect the cochairmen to pay another
visit to the region soon," he said.
Karapetian’s remarks come after the US cochairman, Mathew Bryza, was
quoted by Azerbaijani newspapers as saying last week that Azerbaijan
and Armenia could sign a framework agreement next year to resolve
their dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.
"There is a possibility that prior to presidential elections in
Armenia, which will take place in the spring of next year, some kind
of a framework agreement on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict could be
signed by the heads of Azerbaijan and Armenia," Matthew Bryza, who is
also a deputy assistant U.S. secretary of state, was quoted as saying.
Bryza said Armenian President Robert Kocharian had told the Minsk Group
chairmen during their meeting last Thursday in Yerevan that signing
such a "gentlemanly agreement" prior to the country’s presidential
ballot was possible.
Asked to comment on these reports Vladimir Karapetian said the
president of Armenia had denied it already considering it ‘a result
of a wrong translation."