BAKU: Foreign ministers meeting yields no results

by Zulfugar Agayev
Baku Sun, Azerbaijan
May 14 2004
BAKU -- Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov's meeting
with his Armenian counterpart Vardan Oskanian in Strasbourg has
yielded no result as the Armenian side rejected a suggestion to
release Azerbaijan's seven occupied districts in return for opening
communication lines between the two countries, ANS reported on
Thursday.
The 12-13 May meeting was also attended by co-chairs of the Minsk
group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE). The Armenian foreign minister Oskanian told Azerbaijani
reporters that the idea about Armenia's releasing seven occupied
districts is "absurd and meaningless."
Azerbaijan's Mammadyarov had said on his way to the meeting that his
government would not support peace talks if they fail to give real
results. A cease-fire agreement reached between Baku and Yerevan is
frequently violated.