MEDIATORS CONFIRM MORE PROGRESS IN ARMENIAN-AZERI TALKS
-confirm-more-progress-in-armenian-azeri-talks/
Ju n 5, 2009
ST. PETERSBURG (RFE/RL)-The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan
overcame some of their remaining disagreements over the unresolved
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, international mediators said on Friday,
echoing statements made by the conflicting parties.
Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Ilham Aliyev met in the Russian city
of Saint Petersburg on Thursday for talks brokered by their Russian
counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev. Their foreign ministers said afterwards
that the two men made further progress towards the resolution of the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict even if they did not achieve a breakthrough.
"The conversation took place in a constructive atmosphere and resulted
in positive steps that narrowed the differences between the two
countries on a number of the Basic Principles of the settlement,"
the U.S., Russian and French mediators co-chairing the OSCE Minsk
Group said in a joint statement.
"Because of these positive developments in their discussion, both
Presidents asked the mediators to continue their shuttle diplomacy and
to open a new and major subject outlined by the Madrid Document which,
according to their views, still remains the basis of the negotiation,"
they said. "In addition, the two Presidents agreed on the mediators’
proposal for the Presidents to continue their meetings in the nearest
future, if possible in July."
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service last week, the chief
U.S. Karabakh negotiator, Matthew Bryza, said Aliyev and Sarkisian are
unlikely iron out all of their disagreements on "a handful of remaining
principles" in Saint-Petersburg and will therefore need to hold more
talks "relatively quickly." "Based on their conversation in Prague,
I do believe that a breakthrough can happen at Saint-Petersburg and/or
shortly thereafter," Bryza said.
Neither president made any public statements after the
talks. Sarkisian’s office issued only a written statement saying that
the meeting took place "in a constructive atmosphere."
"The parties agreed to move forward in the negotiating process," the
statement said. It added that they instructed their top diplomats and
the mediators to continue their efforts to narrow Yerevan’s and Baku’s
disagreements and to prepare for yet another Armenian-Azerbaijani
summit.
"Although we cannot talk about a breakthrough or substantial
progress today, the parties are moving forward and have agreed
to continue negotiations," Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian told
journalists. Nalbandian’s Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov,
gave a similarly positive assessment of the talks.
"What we heard today [from the presidents] is creating a basis for
the continuation of our work," Mammadyarov told RFE/RL’s Armenian
service. He said he believes that the Saint-Petersburg talks were
more productive than the previous Aliyev-Sarkisian meeting held in
Prague a month ago.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
