U.S. Official Optimistic On Karabakh Deal
May 17, 2006
Hundreds of thousands of refugees continue to live in camps in Azerbaijan (ITAR-TASS)
Matthew Bryza, the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, said at a meeting in Washington on May 16 that the two sides are now closer to an agreement than they have been in the past.
He said, however, that the Armenian and Azerbaijani governments will have to show political courage to reach a final deal. He said Washington views the next couple of months as a "real window of opportunity" to resolve the dispute.
Yerevan and Baku have been formally at war since 1988, when the predominantly ethnic Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh seceded from Soviet Azerbaijan.
The United States, Russia, and France co-chair the Minsk Group of nations mandated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to mediate between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
(AP)