November 24, 2003 - 19:46 AMT
SEVERAL ACCEPTABLE VARIANTS OF KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT AVAILABLE AT PRESENT, US MEDIATOR STATED
Principally new solutions of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict are not existing, US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Rudolf Perina told "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" Russian newspaper. In his words, there are 5-6 more or less acceptable variants for the settlement of the problem. "Nevertheless we are trying to find new approaches, viewing the issue on another angle. We have just been working in this direction this year and new ideas are probable to occur, however these being ideas only but not proposes", - he stated. Nowadays, when the elections are over in Armenia and Azerbaijan, opportunities for the conflict resolving have appeared, Rudolf Perina noted. "If there is a hope to settle the problem, the moment is the most appropriate today. We wish to take the occasion", - the US diplomat noted. "To our mind, the future settlement of the problem as well as the determination of Nagorno Karabakh's status should be worked out in the course of multilateral negotiations and be acceptable for all the parties. Only the decision based on mutual consent will establish peace and stability in the region", - the OSCE Minsk Group co-chair said.