Co-Chairs of OSCE Minsk Group cautiously optimistic about talks prospects

VIENNA, 6 November 2008 - Last weekend's Moscow meeting between the presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan gave the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, which deals with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, reason for cautious optimism, the Co-Chairs told journalists today.

Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov of the Russian Federation, Ambassador Bernard Fassier of France and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza of the United States, along with Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, talked to journalists after their address to the OSCE Permanent Council.

"There are personal factors and objective factors in the region that give us Co-Chairs a reason for some cautious optimism or realistic optimism," said Bryza.

"Among the personal factors, the 2 November Moscow meeting between Presidents Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Sarkisyan of Armenia confirmed the constructive spirit of their first St Petersburg meeting last June. This constructive spirit allowed them to sign the first ever declaration on the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process," Fassier said. The discussions between Ankara and Yerevan were also among the positive factors.

Among the objective factors, obviously, some elements changed since the crisis in Georgia. The Co-Chairs said that Armenia felt the fragile character of their lines of communication for imports and exports through Georgia. Azerbaijan felt deeply the vulnerability of the so-called energy corridor through Georgia.

Merzlyakov added: "This Moscow meeting, though prepared long in advance in bilateral way, Russia-Armenia, Russia-Azerbaijan, nevertheless is in the framework in the Minsk Group Co-Chair countries' efforts of mediation."

Kasprzyk noted that an estimated 25 people died this year on the front lines of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and highlighted that such incidents were detrimental to the peace process.

The Minsk Group Co-Chairs plan to visit the region in the weeks prior to the OSCE Ministerial Council, scheduled in Helsinki on 4 and 5 December, to work with the parties to build on the recently-established positive momentum and to try to find a mutually acceptable solution to the last remaining differences between them.