Many of us have great expectations about those negotiations. Some people think that those negotiations might be crucial for the resolution of the Karabagh conflict. The OSCE Co-chairmen of the Minsk Group are most hopeful. Yesterday, the negotiations proceeded through several stages. First, the President of France, Jacque Chirac had a meeting with the President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan. Later the French President had a meeting with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. Each meeting took 45 minutes. According to the media agencies, Robert Kocharyan got into the car right after the meeting and left without answering to questions. After his meeting with the French President, Aliyev also refused to answer to questions. After having met with Chirac, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan went to the town of Rambouillet, located 40 kilometers from Paris. The presidents had a meeting at the French president’s villa. The Co-chairmen of the Minsk Group and the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan also participated in the meeting. After the meeting, the negotiations between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan continued behind closed doors. After that the presidents of the two countries did not plan on making any comments, however, it is quite possible that the Co-chairmen of the Minsk Group may have made a short announcement. After the meeting with both parties, Chirac said that the world is supporting the peaceful resolution of the Karabagh conflict. “There are real chances to settle the conflict peacefully,” said Chirac and added that, while meeting with the presidents, he hoped that both presidents would have good outlooks for a peaceful resolution. Chirac has especially emphasized the importance of peaceful resolution of the conflict not only on the behalf of Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also for the sake of the stability of the region. Chirac wished good luck to both of the parties during the negotiations. However, he hasn’t spoken about the issues discussed during the meetings. One of the representatives of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs (who wished to say anonymous) informed the German DPA news agency, that two issues will be discussed in Rambouillet. The first issue concerns the removal of the Armenian troops from the adjacent areas of Karabagh. According to the anonymous representative of the RA Foreign Ministry, Armenia is willing to remove their troops. The same representative of the ministry said that the second issue concerns the people of Karabagh. According to him, Armenia is in favor of a referendum on this issue, however Azerbaijan is against it. The Associated Press announced that one of the representatives of the U.S. State Department mentioned that the U.S. considers the Kocharyan-Aliyev meeting in Rambouillet as the most significant event of the past five years in terms of the conflict resolution. “Both of the presidents understand that 2006 may be decisive,” said the representative of U.S. State Department. According to Reuters, the official of the State Department said that the agreement over the Karabagh issue will lead to a positive outcome in the Southern Caucuses. In his turn, conflict management expert of Euro-Asia Group of New York, Jan Bremer, mentioned that when talking with people from the Bush administration it is clear that the parties are very close to coming to a final agreement. “I think, that the basic agreement is virtually ready,” said the expert.
However, it is foreseen to continue the negotiations today too.