March 17, 2004 - 18:02 AMT
OSCE: ONLY DIRECT TALKS BETWEEN ALL PARTIES WILL RESOLVE NAGORNO-KARABAKH DISPUTE
The key to resolving the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh is for all parties to the conflict to hold direct dialogue "with mutual compromises" and "without any preconditions," the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy said in Baku yesterday. He said the OSCE is "always prepared" to facilitate the peace process but that its suggestions "will all be just laboratory work until both Azerbaijan and Armenia reach an agreement at the table." Solomon Passy cautioned against waiting too long to act, saying that the later a solution is found, "the more painful it may be for the people of the region." The OSCE Chairman-in-Office also emphasized the need to teach history accurately and objectively, saying that if children are "misled by propaganda, the next generation will find it hard to be objective and walk away from old scars."