Steven Mann: Parties Should Reach Agreement on Karabakh in 2006

PanARMENIAN.Net - "We are continuing our work. The co-chairs remain of the opinion that it is very desirable to get some version of an agreement in 2006, but in the final analysis this depends on the two countries themselves," OSCE Minsk Group U.S. Co-chair Steven Mann stated. He said during the Istanbul meeting he briefed to the French and Russian mediators on the outcomes of his visit to Baku and Yerevan. "2006 is the opportune year for a deal and the sides need to complete the serious work which will result in tangible progress," he noted. The U.S. negotiator stopped short of revealing any specific plans for meetings, in particular between the two countries' foreign ministers, on the Karabakh issue in the immediate future. "We had this discussion in Istanbul. We discussed in general terms what future meetings we might have, but there are no specific plans for any future meetings with the foreign ministers," he said. Considering the OSCE to be the right format for the resolution of the Karabakh conflict, Mann repeated that the resolution itself does not depend on the mediators. "Regardless of the format that you choose, it will always come down to the fact that it is up to the two sides to find the common ground in this conflict," he concluded, reported RFE/RL.