Presidential meeting likely after Sargsyan's inauguration

PanARMENIAN.Net - I know there has been an inquiry from the Azerbaijani mission to the OSCE about what would be the procedures were any country to wish to withdraw from the Minsk Group. But I do not know about anything that went beyond an inquiry, OSCE Minsk Group U.S. Co-chair Matthew Bryza said.



"When I read Mr. Oskanian's statement about Baku's intention to dissolve the Minsk Group, it was news to me, and I have not seen confirmation that the Azerbaijani effort had in fact moved that far," he said.



As to Azerbaijani Ambassador to the U.S. Vilayat Guliyev's description of the Minsk Group as 'useless' and its approach to the conflict as 'tendentious and one-sided', Mr Bryza said, "Ambassador Guliyev, with all due respect, is not participating in negotiations under the Minsk Group and I would presume is not aware of the details of what is on the table. And what is on the table is a fair and balanced compromise that includes elements that are attractive to Azerbaijan, an interpretation of which was cited in the UN GA resolution, but there are also many elements that are very attractive to Armenia that were not cited in that resolution. So I do not think that any of the people that are out there criticizing the Minsk Group proposals are aware of what is really in the proposal.



Asked about possibility of a meeting between Armenia's president-elect Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during the upcoming NATO summit in Romania, which both plan to attend, The U.S. diplomat said, "What we said is that it would be useful for there to be a meeting between the presidents as soon as they are ready to meet. I do not know when that is going to happen. It could be at the NATO summit or just after that. The calendar is a bit complicated in that President-elect Sargsyan will not be inaugurated until April 9, and the summit in Romania is from April 2 to 4. So Prime Minister Sargsyan will not yet be the president. So, there is a protocol problem, which could lead to a delay, but it is up to them if they get together there. And if they don't, they would be able to meet shortly thereafter."



"In terms of agenda, it is clear now that the president-elect of Armenia is in favor of continuing on the basis of the proposal on the table, as it was presented at the OSCE ministerial meeting in Madrid last November," he said in an interview with The Armenian Reporter.