15.09.2000, MEDIAMAX, YEREVAN. "Karabakh negotiations are at a point of "very intense engagement, so 60% of my time is spent on this problem", said U.S. Special Negotiator for Nagorno-Karabakh, Ambassador Carey Cavanaugh in a discussion with Bay Area Armenian-Americans. About this was reported to MEDIAMAX in the Armenian National Committee of America.
Cavanaugh said that after several peace proposals made by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were rejected by the parties to the conflict, "the leaders were encouraged to come up with their own solution". "Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been very frank in their engagement to solve the issue", said Cavanaugh. "Both Kocharian and Aliyev have agreed that there has to be compromise on both sides, but both need the promise of a secure future," said Cavanaugh.
The American diplomat described the conflict as "politically volatile," comparing it to the negotiations surrounding the future of Jerusalem, in which, as he said, "the meaning of a single word can strongly effect positions on both sides". Considering the possibility that one of the presidents dies or is killed after a settlement is reached, the settlement could only hold if "more people embrace it", said Cavanaugh. -0-