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Armenian, Azeri Foreign Ministers
Content with First Meeting
 STRASBOURG (Combined Sources)—The foreign ministers of
Armenia and Azerbaijan held what they described as
productive talks in Strasbourg on May 6 aimed at
kick-starting the Nagorno-Karabagh peace process.
The meeting was the first between Armenian foreign minister
Eduard Nalbandian and his Azeri counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov.
It focused on the possibility of arranging a meeting of the
two countries’ presidents.
The two ministers began their meeting in private and were
later joined by the French, Russian, and U.S. diplomats
co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group. They held separate talks
with the mediators earlier in the day. Yuri Merzlyakov, the
Minsk Group’s Russian co-chair, told Armenian Public
Television that he is “very content” with the results of the
discussions held on the sidelines of a regular session of
the Council of Europe’s decision-making Committee of
Ministers.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Nalbandian
reassured the co-chairs about Armenia’s overall acceptance
of their proposed basic principles of resolving the Karabagh
conflict. The mediators heard similar assurances from
President Serge Sarkisian when they met him in Bucharest in
early April.
The basic principles, formally submitted to Baku and Yerevan
last November, envision a gradual solution to the dispute
that would delay agreement on Karabagh’s status, the main
bone of contention.
Azerbaijan has hardened its position after it violated the
cease-fire regime in March with a series of unprecedented
attacks across the border. Meanwhile, official Baku’s call
for all out war to conquer Karabagh has been growing louder
in recent weeks. Azeri president Aliyev’s position has been
fueled by the passage on March 14 of an Azeri-drafted UN
General Assembly resolution that demanded an “unconditional”
Armenian withdrawal from so-called “occupied Azerbaijani
territories.”
But Mamedyarov this week echoed his Armenian counterpart and
stressed the need to find a solution to the current
deadlock. The two countries are neighbors and cannot simply
run away from one another, he added.
“It’s hard to resolve all differences and find solutions in
one meeting,” he said in remarks broadcast by Armenian
Public Television. “Nevertheless, there is a possibility of
continuing discussions to ultimately reach a common
denominator.”
Aliyev, who is up for reelection this fall, stated last
month that Baku will never agree to a referendum of
self-determination in Karabagh, a key provision of the Minsk
Group plan. He also pledged to continue Azerbaijan’s
military build-up, which he hopes will force the Armenians
to give up control of the disputed territory.
Just last week, the Azerbaijani government raised its
projected defense spending in 2008 by 53 percent to $2
billion. By comparison, Armenia’s 2008 defense budget is
projected at $410 million.
Still, the influential chief of Aliev’s administration,
Ramiz Mehtiev, said on May 7 that Baku is committed to a
peaceful settlement of the conflict.
“We should try to solve this problem and ensure Azerbaijan’s
territorial integrity by peaceful means,” he told a news
conference in Baku, according to Day.az.
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