Bryza hopes for gentlemen agreement on Karabakh before Armenian presidential election

PanARMENIAN.Net - OSCE Minsk Group U.S. Co-chair Matthew Bryza voiced hope that the sides can reach a gentlemen agreement on Nagorno Karabakh before the presidential elections on Armenia. "In Madrid, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia and Bernard Couchner of France as well as U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns handed the Armenian and Azeri FMs a revised package of proposals on the issues the two parties have failed to coordinate so far," he said.



Mr Bryza informed that the mediators will arrive in the region in mid-January to get to know about the positions of the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents on the latest proposals. "The Co-chairs are hopeful that the Presidents will reach an oral agreement before the elections in Armenia," he said.



"The fundamental principles proposed to Yerevan and Baku in Madrid can be described as the result of talks held during recent three years. The principles on the table are like those at the beginning of the process. The general concept underwent no changes but new ideas and approaches were suggested. Some amendments introduced by the mediators are the result of compromise by both sides," Mr Bryza said.



"Each President concedes that they approached a verge and now have to choose either to make a just compromise and or start from scratch threatening with resumption of hostilities. We hope that the Presidents will favor the base principles leading to a fair and lasting settlement," he said, Mediamax reports.