CLINTON TO MEET ARMENIAN, AZERI FOREIGN MINISTERS
www.asbarez.com/index.html?showarticle= 42051_5/4/2009_1
Monday, May 4, 2009
WASHINGTON--U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was due to meet
the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday and Tuesday
for talks that will likely center on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The talks highlight the new U.S. administration's hopes that
the long-running Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks will produce a
breakthrough soon. The presidents of the two nations will meet in
Prague on Thursday to try to bridge their remaining differences over
the basic principles of a Karabakh settlement proposed by the American,
French and Russian mediators co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group.
Speaking during congressional hearings in Washington late last month,
Clinton said Baku and Yerevan could hammer out a framework peace accord
"in the next months." She discussed the Karabakh conflict as well as
efforts to improve Turkish-Armenian relations in a phone call with
Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian last week.
Their follow-up talks in Washington were scheduled for late
Monday. Clinton will meet Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov on Tuesday.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza, Washington's top
Karabakh negotiator, admitted over the weekend that the timing of
the two meetings is "not a coincidence." He said "President Obama and
Secretary of State Clinton have pointed out in their statements that
they want to achieve a breakthrough in the Karabakh peace process,"
he told the Azerbaijani APA news agency. "That is why the two foreign
ministers will meet the secretary of state separately."
Bryza also said that the success of the ongoing Turkish-Armenian
rapprochement would increase chances of Karabakh peace. "If the
Turkish-Armenian rapprochement moves forward we might see Armenia
act more constructively in the negotiations," he said.
www.asbarez.com/index.html?showarticle= 42051_5/4/2009_1
Monday, May 4, 2009
WASHINGTON--U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was due to meet
the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday and Tuesday
for talks that will likely center on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
The talks highlight the new U.S. administration's hopes that
the long-running Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks will produce a
breakthrough soon. The presidents of the two nations will meet in
Prague on Thursday to try to bridge their remaining differences over
the basic principles of a Karabakh settlement proposed by the American,
French and Russian mediators co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group.
Speaking during congressional hearings in Washington late last month,
Clinton said Baku and Yerevan could hammer out a framework peace accord
"in the next months." She discussed the Karabakh conflict as well as
efforts to improve Turkish-Armenian relations in a phone call with
Armenian Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian last week.
Their follow-up talks in Washington were scheduled for late
Monday. Clinton will meet Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar
Mammadyarov on Tuesday.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza, Washington's top
Karabakh negotiator, admitted over the weekend that the timing of
the two meetings is "not a coincidence." He said "President Obama and
Secretary of State Clinton have pointed out in their statements that
they want to achieve a breakthrough in the Karabakh peace process,"
he told the Azerbaijani APA news agency. "That is why the two foreign
ministers will meet the secretary of state separately."
Bryza also said that the success of the ongoing Turkish-Armenian
rapprochement would increase chances of Karabakh peace. "If the
Turkish-Armenian rapprochement moves forward we might see Armenia
act more constructively in the negotiations," he said.