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Virtually all newspapers report on the visit of OSCE Minsk Group Co-chair Matthew Bryza to Yerevan on August 7-8.
DAS Bryza talks to government, opposition leaders. According to HAYASTANI HANRAPETUTIUN, Bryza met with President Sargsian, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh negotiations. Bryza also met with first president of Armenia, leader of the Armenian National Congress Levon Ter-Petrossian. In addition to the N-K peace process, the two sides spoke about democracy in Armenia and members of the opposition held in prison. The parties also touched upon the prospects of the Millennium Challenge Account Armenia. U.S. Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch was present at all the meetings. / ARMINOF
DAS Bryza outlines issues to be addressed in N-K settlement. ARAVOT and HAYOTS ASHKHAR highlight that, in addition to the meeting with government and opposition representatives, Bryza also spoke to journalists. He stated that any N-K settlement would include the return of refugees, the return of five districts to Azerbaijan, with two other districts being returned later, a referendum on Nagorno-Karabakh's status, deployment of peacekeeping forces, a corridor between Armenia and Karabakh and transit routes between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Bryza said that Armenia and Azerbaijan together will decide the composition of peacekeeping forces and each country will be able to veto troops of certain countries. He also added that the peacekeepers will act mostly as observers. They will not be armed, but may have means for defending themselves and preventing possible provocations. Bryza underlined that once the parties agree on the basic principles, an intensive process will start to hammer out an agreement.
Madrid principles remain unchanged. According to RFE/RL, Bryza laughed off suggestions that the newly modified version of proposed basic principles for a N-K settlement is less favorable to the Armenian side than the original document put forward by the Co-Chairs in Madrid in November 2007. "The fundamental formulations that are in the Madrid document remain, and all that has changed are a few slight technical points that are important, of course, but they are technical and in no way disadvantage either side," Bryza told RFE/RL in an interview."What we did [in Krakow] was try to offer our best ideas and suggestions on how to bridge the remaining differences between the presidents based on all of the discussions that have taken place since the Madrid document was first presented back in November 2007."... "President Sargsian has strong views, President [Robert] Kocharian had strong views after Madrid, President Aliyev has strong views. Discussions have gone up and back for almost two years, and we took all of those ideas that were put on the table and tried to bring them together with the Co-Chairs’ best effort to make both sides as satisfied as possible." / The full article can be accessed at http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/1795207.html
Russia tilting towards Azerbaijan? Nagorno-Karabakh "MP" Vahram Atanesian tells HAYOTS ASHKHAR that the recent statement by OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Matthew Bryza, to the effect that all fundamental principles of a N-K settlement have been agreed, was made to create" a favorable PR environment" in Azerbaijan in connection with Bryza's "probable" coming appointment as U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan. Atanesian said that Azerbaijan expects a "decisive step" by Russia in the Karabakh settlement. He believes that if Russia were to adopt a pro-Azerbaijani approach in the Karabakh settlement, it would have "serious economic consequences" for Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Opposition continues to misinterpret DAS Bryza's statements. A leading member of the opposition Armenian National Movement, Hovhannes Igitian, believes the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair Matthew Bryza is "more sincere" than Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian when the former (allegedly) stated that all fundamental principles of a N-K settlement have been agreed. Nalbandian has said that Armenia has not consented to the Madrid Principles of the settlement. (Note: DAS Bryza has made clear that neither side has agreed in a legally binding way to any of the Madrid Principles.)
Expert argues for status quo in N-K. HAYOTS ASHKHAR quotes political expert Karen Bekarian saying that developments in the Karabakh settlement and normalization of Armenian-Turkish ties are not linked. Bekarian asserted that Armenia did not give consent to the Madrid principles on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, but merely consented to hold negotiations around these principles. He believes that the fact that the cease-fire has been maintained for 15 years without the presence of peacekeeping forces proves that "the current status quo balances the forces of both sides"
Dashnaks rep sees link between "haste" on N-K and football match. RFE/RL writes that senior member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutiun) Giro Manoyan said that Turkey’s preconditions for normalizing relations with Armenia have left Yerevan under stronger international pressure to make concessions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He added that the United States and other mediating powers are pressing the two sides to sign on to the principles of a Karabakh settlement before an October 14 football match in Turkey, which Ankara hopes will be attended by President Sargsian. "Their haste is related to Turkey’s precondition that it will not sign a [normalization] agreement with Armenia until there is progress on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue," Manoyan told RFE/RL. "As far as Karabakh is concerned, this haste is against Armenian interests because it does not stem from the logic of the conflict’s resolution."/
Read the full article http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/1794943.html
President Sargsian under pressure, doing best he can for Armenia in N-K talks. HAYOTS ASHKHAR writes that the current debate over Nagorno-Karabakh leads one to ask: Will a solution be found and what are Armenia's and Nagorno-Karabakh's main goals in the negotiation process? The daily says that the OSCE Minsk Group countries are seeking to inject new life into the negotiations, leading the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents to clarify and at the same time toughen their positions. The daily asserts that, faced with foreign political and diplomatic pressure, Armenia's President seeks to get the most he can out of the negotiation process.
Supporters protest for release of leaflet distributor. Several dozen young supporters of the opposition Armenian National Congress marched to the Office of the Prosecutor-General in Yerevan on Friday to demand the release of fellow activist Tigran Arakelian, who was arrested while distributing opposition leaflets last month./ RFE/RL
LTP continues visits to regions. A delegation of the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC), headed by former President Levon Ter-Petrossian, visited families of opposition "political prisoners" in the Shirak Region on August 7. This follows visits by the ANC leadership to Kotayk, Shirak and Aragatsotn regions last week. / ARAVOT
Construction to pick up in second semester. RFE/RL quotes Urban Development Minister Vartan Vartanian saying that the dramatic decline in construction, a key factor behind Armenia’s ongoing economic recession, will ease in the second half of this year thanks to wide-ranging measures taken by the government. / The full version of the article can be read at http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/1794752.html |
