Tweet
ARMENIAN-AZERI TALKS AGAIN INCONCLUSIVE
By Harry Tamrazian in Prague
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 24 2006
The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Paris
Tuesday for talks that again produced no breakthrough but kept
open the possibility of a crucial Armenian-Azerbaijani summit on
Nagorno-Karabakh before the end of this year.
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said he and his Azerbaijani opposite
number Elmar Mammadyarov discussed "new ideas" on how to break
the current deadlock in the peace process that were suggested by
international mediators during their previous talks held in Moscow
on October 6. He told RFE/RL that they agreed to hold yet another
meeting three weeks later.
Oskanian said he and Mammadyarov presented their governments'
responses to the unspecified ideas put forward by the American,
French and Russian co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. "I can't say
that there is full congruence in positions," he said. "There are
differences. But there are also possibilities to bring our positions
closer. So we need to continue to work on it."
"That's why we agreed to hold another round of talks, most probably
in Brussels around November 13, so that we continue our discussions
to narrow down the differences," continued Oskanian. "If that
materializes, it will make possible a meeting between our presidents
during this year. There is also a possibility that the co-chairs may
come to the region in preparation for the presidents' meeting."
Mammadyarov and other Azerbaijani officials did not immediately
comment on the Paris talks that began in the presence of French
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy.
According to Oskanian, the talks continue to center on the basic
principles of a Karabakh settlement that were discussed by Presidents
Ilham Aliev and Robert Kocharian during their two face-to-face meetings
this year and were disclosed by the mediators afterwards.
They call for the conflict's gradual resolution that would culminate
in a referendum on Karabakh's status.
Oskanian said the mediators' "new ideas" are aimed at bridging Baku's
and Yerevan's differences on some key elements of the proposed peace
deal. He did not give details, saying only that he visited Stepanakert
following the Moscow talks to discuss the issue with Karabakh's ethnic
Armenian leadership. "In Karabakh, we managed to formulate a common
position on those new ideas," he said.
Karabakh officials have repeatedly expressed serious misgivings about
the proposed peace formula, unlike official Yerevan which seems to
find it largely acceptable.
By Harry Tamrazian in Prague
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 24 2006
The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Paris
Tuesday for talks that again produced no breakthrough but kept
open the possibility of a crucial Armenian-Azerbaijani summit on
Nagorno-Karabakh before the end of this year.
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said he and his Azerbaijani opposite
number Elmar Mammadyarov discussed "new ideas" on how to break
the current deadlock in the peace process that were suggested by
international mediators during their previous talks held in Moscow
on October 6. He told RFE/RL that they agreed to hold yet another
meeting three weeks later.
Oskanian said he and Mammadyarov presented their governments'
responses to the unspecified ideas put forward by the American,
French and Russian co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. "I can't say
that there is full congruence in positions," he said. "There are
differences. But there are also possibilities to bring our positions
closer. So we need to continue to work on it."
"That's why we agreed to hold another round of talks, most probably
in Brussels around November 13, so that we continue our discussions
to narrow down the differences," continued Oskanian. "If that
materializes, it will make possible a meeting between our presidents
during this year. There is also a possibility that the co-chairs may
come to the region in preparation for the presidents' meeting."
Mammadyarov and other Azerbaijani officials did not immediately
comment on the Paris talks that began in the presence of French
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy.
According to Oskanian, the talks continue to center on the basic
principles of a Karabakh settlement that were discussed by Presidents
Ilham Aliev and Robert Kocharian during their two face-to-face meetings
this year and were disclosed by the mediators afterwards.
They call for the conflict's gradual resolution that would culminate
in a referendum on Karabakh's status.
Oskanian said the mediators' "new ideas" are aimed at bridging Baku's
and Yerevan's differences on some key elements of the proposed peace
deal. He did not give details, saying only that he visited Stepanakert
following the Moscow talks to discuss the issue with Karabakh's ethnic
Armenian leadership. "In Karabakh, we managed to formulate a common
position on those new ideas," he said.
Karabakh officials have repeatedly expressed serious misgivings about
the proposed peace formula, unlike official Yerevan which seems to
find it largely acceptable.