“The countries involved in the Karabagh peace settlement will not face any problems and they will not have to make any choices in 2006. We must take advantage of that,” said co-president of the OSCE Minsk group Steven Mann during an interview with the Azeri ANS television network. “Negotiations are being led more actively and they are at a high level. I am not saying that the conflict will not be settled soon, however, I am asking myself why not now?” According to the co-president, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan were not able to put all their effort into leading peaceful negotiations due to the internal political processes, for example, the elections in both countries. “Those elections are in the past; thus, the co-presidents of the OSCE Minsk group call on the presidents of both countries to consider the negotiation process carefully and make it more effective,” said Mann.
According to him, both sides can not force each other to come to terms due to the fact that that would be an agreement which wouldn’t satisfy both sides. “I am certain that each president can claim that he has helped his country reach success by leaving the negotiations aside,” said Steven Mann. He also informed that the co-presidents of the OSCE Minsk group will meet with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia next week and then they will visit the region as a whole.
