Washington briefing: Former U.S. official: Karabakh settlement up to Armenia and Azerbaijan

by Emil Sanamyan

Published: Friday August 28, 2009

Marc Grossman (right) speaking with then Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian in 2003. NATO

Washington - The Karabakh "conflict should be solved in Baku and Yerevan, not in Washington or Moscow," Marc Grossman, former U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs told Azerbaijani officials on August 24, Azerbaijan's APA news agency reported. Mr. Grossman was speaking at an event organized by Azerbaijan's president's office in Baku.

Mr. Grossman suggested that as mediators all third countries could do was to organize venues for Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to meet, as they have.

According to an Azerbaijani government statement on August 22, the former senior American diplomat arrived in Azerbaijan for a five-day tour that included meetings with senior officials and visits to colleges and the main oil terminal.

Since leaving the government in 2005, Mr. Grossman has been a board member for Turkey's Ihlas Holding and vice-chair of the Washington-based Cohen group, a lobbying firm. He was the State Department's number-three official between 2001 and 2005 and ambassador to Turkey before that.