International group stops talks for Azeri prisoners’ release
Trend news agency
2 May 05
Baku, 2 May, Correspondent Y. Aliyev: The international working group
to search for missing people and to release captives and hostages
stopped negotiations about a week ago with the leaders of Nagornyy
Karabakh on the release of three Azerbaijani soldiers (Ruslan Bakirov,
Xayal Abdullayev and Hikmat Tagiyev) who were taken captive on 15
February 2005, the group’s coordinator for Azerbaijan, Avaz Hasanov,
has told Trend.
The negotiations with the separatist regime in Nagornyy Karabakh were
suspended after the working group appealed to the OSCE Minsk Group
co-chairmen for assistance in the release, he said. The mediators
promised to deal with the issue, Hasanov noted.
“Now we are waiting for the results of talks between the co-chairmen
and the ruling regime in Nagornyy Karabakh. We will resume our activity
in this regard depending on the outcome of the talks,” he said.
Hasanov is not aware of whether the Minsk Group co-chairmen have
started negotiations with the separatist regime. However, he is
convinced that at this stage there cannot be more influential
negotiators for this type of problem. “There is no higher body to
deal with the Karabakh settlement process than this one. Therefore,
I hope that this will be understood in Nagornyy Karabakh as well,”
Hasanov concluded.