And so the “perfect couple” the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group Mathew Bryza, Bernard Fassier and Yuri Merzlyakov are in Yerevan again.
The RA President Serzh Sargsyan and foreign affairs minister Edward Nalbadyan received the OSCE chairmen as well as the personal representative of the OSCE chairman Anjey Kasprichik. "Some of you laugh at my words. But you needn’t do it. Call Mr. Bako Sahakyan and he will confirm my words," OSCE Minsk group French Co-Chair Bernard Fassier said in Yerevan during today’s press conference. Journalists burst into laughter after Mr. Fassier said the Co-Chairs were unable to travel to Stepanakert because of the unfavorable weather conditions. (it was cancelled for the third time now). It was the second time the Co-Chairs conditioned their travel to Karabakh with weather conditions. The Co-Chairs are in Yerevan to arrange preparations for the forthcoming meeting of the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow. The Co-Chairs are convinced that the meeting will bring new changes in the negotiations over the Karabakh conflict settlement. Later the co-chairmen met with the journalists. The American, French and Russian diplomats co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group said President Serzh Sargsyan formally agreed to meet his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in Moscow on July 17. They expect to secure Aliyev’s final consent to what will be the sixth Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in just over year when they visit Baku. Speaking at a joint news conference held by the mediating troika later in the day, Bernard Fassier, the top French negotiator, said that the conflicting parties have all but agreed on the most important of about 15 “basic principles” of Karabakh peace proposed by the co-chairs. According to Fassier’s Russian colleague, Yuri Merzlyakov, those principles relate to Karabakh’s future status and the security of its predominantly Armenian population. “Now the matter is nearing completion to a great extent,” he said. Aliev stated several days ago that Karabakh’s final status may never be ascertained even if the parties reach a framework peace agreement soon. He said the disputed region could therefore indefinitely have a “provisional status.” “Agreement on the realization of the procedure for determining that final status will be reached later on,” confirmed Merzlyakov. “There is a notion of ‘delayed status.’” Fassier described Aliev’s comments as a “step forward.” He argued that the Azerbaijani leader did not threaten to resolve the conflict by force. “I hope that what’s happening is we are seeing President Aliev beginning to prepare the Azerbaijani people for further progress,” Bryza said, for his part. “I understand that certain elements of what President Aliev said in that interview weren’t entirely welcomed here in Armenia because they reflect Azerbaijan’s position. But if you compare what we said in this interview to what has been said in the past, I think you’ll see a shift in the tone.” Let us mention that the US co-chairmen of the “perfect couple” Mathew Bryza prior to meeting with journalists already reached to give an interview to the Radio Liberty. He expressed hope about the upcoming meeting of the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Moreover Bryza rushed to make us glad by saying that the last statements of Aliyev (according to which the issue of the status of the NKR is not discussed at the moment) are “big steps forward” or that those are not leading to “deadlock but to progress?” They were trying to make us feel that the tone of the voice of Aliyev has changed and instead of being belligerent he was sounding less aggressive. During his statements Bryza had the backup of his colleagues and Yuri Merzlyakov said the following, "Aliyev’s statement would sound ridiculous if, as Azerbaijan’s President, he announced that he longed for Karabakh’s independence. Statements shouldn’t be mixed with negotiations." "I cannot understand the meaning of your question. Anyway, I advise you to take Co-Chairs’ statements seriously," said Mr. Merzlyakov. Yuri Merzlyakov announced that Karabakh conflict cannot be solved within a day or two. In a word, we are lucky that in past Aliyev didn’t make harsher statements and didn’t say that the whole territory of Armenia belonged to Azerbaijan. Because now he would say that he refuses part of that territory and according to the co-chairmen we should have shined because of happiness. Let us add that at the beginning of the press conference when speaking of the planned July 17 meeting of Aliyev and Sargsyan, Fassier suddenly resembled the whole process to a film. Let’s agree that on part of the co-chairmen this whole process resembles a comedy.