RIA Novosti, Russia
July 17 2004
OSCE: KARABAKH TEAM CO-CHAIRS FOR AZERI TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY
BAKU, July 16 (RIA Novosti’s Gherai Dadashev) – All three co-chair
countries on the OSCE Minsk group insist on Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity. They have not recognised independence of the
self-proclaimed Karabakh republic in the Azeri Armenian-populated
enclave.
The statement came from Yuri Merzlyakov, co-chair for Russia, as he
was addressing a news conference to sum up the three co-chairs’
preceding visit to the Karabakh conflict zone.
As Stephen Mann, co-chair for the USA, emphasised to the conference,
the Minsk group countries see peaceful settlement as the only way out
of the Karabakh conflict. They firmly believe in that road alone to
lead to lasting peace in the area. If things take a different turn,
the outcome will certainly be tragic, he warned.
The co-chairs did not mean by their visit to prompt any of the
conflicting parties to whatever resolutions. Success at the
negotiation table depends on the Parties’ goodwill to meet each other
halfway. Responsibility for the talks lies on the Armenian and Azeri
leaders alone-certainly not on the Minsk group of the Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Progress of the talks also
depends on the national leaders alone, stressed Mr. Mann.
Henri Jacolin, co-chair for France, said he would not like to sum up
the Minsk group heads’ negotiations with Armenian and Azeri spokesmen
proceeding from whatever value scale. It will take a long time to
settle such an entangled issue as the Karabakh, he emphatically
added.
The co-chairs will stay in consultation with the conflicting parties
within a few next weeks, they said.