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Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
January 31, 2007 Wednesday
DISPOSITION TO MATCH WEATHER
by Grigori Aleksandrjan
YEREVAN AND BAKU: INTERPRETATIONS OF THE VISIT OF OSCE MINSK GROUP
CHAIRMEN TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH DIFFER; Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group
visited Nagorno-Karabakh.
The president of Armenia met with chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group
for Karabakh conflict resolution - Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Bernard
Fasie (France), and Matthew Bryza (USA), and with special
representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzei Kasprzyk. The
current phase of Karabakh talks was discussed. Chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group came to Yerevan from Stepanakert where they had met with
Karabakh President Arkady Gukasjan last Thursday.
Official reports on the meeting in Yerevan were scarce. Foreign
diplomats merely reiterated the necessity to solve the problem by
peaceful means.
Gukasjan had been more talkative when he admitted that negotiations
over certain issues (like the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani
territories under Stepanakert's control, and refugees) would be
lengthy and difficult yet. Stepanakert updated the foreign diplomats
on its stand on these and related matters and suggested what it
perceived as solutions. Judging by what the chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group said afterwards, they liked what they had been told.
Baku, in the meantime, is angered by the foreign diplomats' visit to
Stepanakert. No wonder. The visit sends the following message: unlike
Azerbaijani authorities, chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group do
recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as a warring side - however indirect this
recognition. This assumption is confirmed by the foreign diplomats'
words that they owed it to Gukasjan because they had been unable for
a long time to visit Stepanakert as a group and discuss matters with
he Nagorno-Karabakh leadership. This is what probably became the most
important nuance of the foreign diplomats' visit to Stepanakert.
As for the prospects of conflict resolution, chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group and president Nagorno-Karabakh regard them as quite
murky. A breakthrough in the peace process is not about to
materialize in the foreseeable future. It follows that the visitors'
somewhat elated disposition was probably caused by an unexpected
spell of warm weather in Nagorno-Karabakh that coincided with their
visit - and not to diplomatic etiquette or any progress in the talks.
Source: Novoye Vremya (Yerevan), January 2, 2007, EV
Translated by A. Ignatkin
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
January 31, 2007 Wednesday
DISPOSITION TO MATCH WEATHER
by Grigori Aleksandrjan
YEREVAN AND BAKU: INTERPRETATIONS OF THE VISIT OF OSCE MINSK GROUP
CHAIRMEN TO NAGORNO-KARABAKH DIFFER; Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group
visited Nagorno-Karabakh.
The president of Armenia met with chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group
for Karabakh conflict resolution - Yuri Merzlyakov (Russia), Bernard
Fasie (France), and Matthew Bryza (USA), and with special
representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzei Kasprzyk. The
current phase of Karabakh talks was discussed. Chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group came to Yerevan from Stepanakert where they had met with
Karabakh President Arkady Gukasjan last Thursday.
Official reports on the meeting in Yerevan were scarce. Foreign
diplomats merely reiterated the necessity to solve the problem by
peaceful means.
Gukasjan had been more talkative when he admitted that negotiations
over certain issues (like the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani
territories under Stepanakert's control, and refugees) would be
lengthy and difficult yet. Stepanakert updated the foreign diplomats
on its stand on these and related matters and suggested what it
perceived as solutions. Judging by what the chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group said afterwards, they liked what they had been told.
Baku, in the meantime, is angered by the foreign diplomats' visit to
Stepanakert. No wonder. The visit sends the following message: unlike
Azerbaijani authorities, chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group do
recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as a warring side - however indirect this
recognition. This assumption is confirmed by the foreign diplomats'
words that they owed it to Gukasjan because they had been unable for
a long time to visit Stepanakert as a group and discuss matters with
he Nagorno-Karabakh leadership. This is what probably became the most
important nuance of the foreign diplomats' visit to Stepanakert.
As for the prospects of conflict resolution, chairmen of the OSCE
Minsk Group and president Nagorno-Karabakh regard them as quite
murky. A breakthrough in the peace process is not about to
materialize in the foreseeable future. It follows that the visitors'
somewhat elated disposition was probably caused by an unexpected
spell of warm weather in Nagorno-Karabakh that coincided with their
visit - and not to diplomatic etiquette or any progress in the talks.
Source: Novoye Vremya (Yerevan), January 2, 2007, EV
Translated by A. Ignatkin