YURI MERZLYAKOV DENIED ILHAM ALIYEV STATEMENT ON MINSK GROUP NOT HAVING PROPOSALS OVER KARABAKH

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russian Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Yuri Merzlyakov has denied a statement of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev that the mediators do not have specific proposals over settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. In an interview with the Azerbaijani TV Company Y. Merzlyakov said the Minsk Group had worked out new proposals and ideas for settlement of the conflict, however, the Co-Chairs could not have the parties meet and discuss them. At that the mediator said it was impossible to work out proposals, which would satisfy both sides, "thus, negotiations should continue." In his words, the Minsk Group is trying to determine the venue and date of the talks, however, it is not possible to achieve agreement between the parties yet. "We have been working for holding consultations since this January, unfortunately, we achieved no success, as at one moment one party, then the other insisted on putting off the meeting," the Russian diplomat said. At the same time Y. Merzlyakov did not agree with the statement that peace talks were deadlocked. "We are optimists and we hope to be able to start talks between the parties in the near future," he said.