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March 09, 2007

Armenia Sees 'Positive Shift' On Karabakh

Vartan Oskanian (file photo) (epa)

YEREVAN, March 9, 2007 (RFE/RL) - Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian says upcoming talks in Geneva should cause "a positive shift" toward settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported.

The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan are due to meet in Geneva on March 13-14.


Speaking at a press conference in Yerevan, Oskanian said the OSCE Minsk Group of international mediators wants the foreign ministers to prepare the ground for a meeting between Armenian President Robert Kocharian and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, in May.


"They want the presidents to meet as soon as possible after the parliamentary elections [in Armenia on May 12]," Oskanian said. "Because of this they want some progress at the ministerial level before the presidents meet."


The predominantly ethnic-Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh lies inside Azerbaijan's borders. Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war over the enclave from 1988 until a 1994 cease-fire.


(with material from Interfax)


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