Sargsian and Aliyev to meet in Prague

Bako Sahakian proposes a meeting between leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan

by Tatul Hakobyan

Published: Saturday May 02, 2009

OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, from left, Yuri Merzlyakov, Bernard Fassier, and Matthew Bryza, in Yerevan. Hayk Badalyan / Photolure

Yerevan - Georgi Petrossian, the foreign minister of Nagorno-Karabakh said in the NKR parliament that President Bako ­Sahakian had requested organizing a meeting between the leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan to the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. Mr. Petrossian expressed the opinion that the co-chairs, during their last visit to the region, did not travel to Stepanakert because they had to have an answer regarding that meeting.

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs during a one week period (April 21-27) were in Yerevan twice and once in Baku; however as the French co-chair Bernard Fassier said, "We didn't go to Stepanakert  because of bad weather." In its place, all three co-chairs individually spoke with President Sahakian on the phone.

After meeting with the leaders of both Armenia and Azerbaijan, the co-chairs left the region with "hopes of a reasonable progress," toward the resolution of the Karabakh conflict. At a press conference at the French Embassy in Yerevan, the co-chairs stressed that progress hinges upon, first and foremost the two presidents, Serge Sargsian and Ilham Aliyev.

Mr. Fassier said that Presidents Sargsian and Aliyev had agreed to meet in Prague on May 7. This will be the fourth meeting between the two leaders. Previous meetings took place in June 2008 in St. Petersburg, November, 2008 in Moscow, and January 2009 in Zurich.

The U.S. co-chair Matthew Bryza said that in the coming months a resolution of the Karabakh conflict could be forthcoming. The Russian co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov was also optimistic, but more somber and moderate, as always.

"The Madrid Principles continue to be on the negotiating table. We continue to discuss them along with the presidents. Naturally, several points [of the Madrid Principles] will be part of the discussion during the Prague meeting," Mr. Fassier said.

Mr. Petrossian on April 29, said, "Karabakh has very clear disagreements regarding several fundamental points within the Madrid Principles," adding that Karabakh could become more rigid in its position.

Over the last years, Yerevan and Baku, without Stepanakert's direct participation, have been negotiating on the basis of a document that is called the Madrid Principles and which was passed to Armenia and Azerbaijan in November, 2007 in Spain's capital city. The principal thrust is the following: with the promise of holding a referendum at some unknown time in the future, Armenian forces would retreat from those regions which Armenians deem liberated territories or a security zone.