When speaking about the results of his recent visit to the region during his interview to the APA agency the US co-chairman of the Minsk Group of the OSCE Mathew Bryza mentioned that they succeeded in “taking a stride forward” in the negotiation process. “We find an achievement that the presidents of both of the countries announced that during the 2008 elections they will work on the Madrid Plan. Prior to this visit we were afraid that this suggestion wouldn’t be accepted by the presidents or that the new president of the RA would wish to start the process over. However, now I can confidently say that the presidents have showed willingness to negotiate over the basic principles of the conflict resolution. That is good news,” said the US co-chairman. He also mentioned that during the visit the co-chairmen were introduced to the viewpoints of the presidents about the document, answered questions about the terminology of certain principles. “In certain cases both of the presidents express the same concerns. At present we must make certain changes in the document in order to neutralize these concerns. The process continues,” he said. To the question what components the Madrid Plan implies and whether it implies a referendum in NKR, deployment of peacekeeping forces in the region, issues concerning the retrieval of refugees, Bryza answered, “Although I cannot bring up thorough details of the Plan but I can say that it fully includes all the basic principles.” According to Bryza if the conflicting sides don’t agree on the Plan in general then it will become impossible to consent over the principles separately. “During my last visit I have seen Aghdam with my own eyes. It’s hard to imagine what human casualties the war could have brought there. Same thing was saying Ilham Aliyev when watching the border on the other side with binoculars. It is good that the other side of the conflict also understands the human value. They want peace and no war. During my last visit I have noticed a great wish of peace between the sides. We should do our best to exclude unfairness and possibility of war,” stated Mathew Bryza.
