Armenia says meeting with Aliyev on Karabakh was `positive´

KAZAN, August 27 (Itar-Tass) — Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev conferred for about two hours in Kazan on Saturday in a bid to find a solution to the Karabakh conflict that has been the cause of confrontation between the two countries since the beginning of the 1990s.

Confidentiality is one of the conditions of the Karabakh talks, and neither side has disclosed the details of the negotiations or agreements.

However Kocharyan’s spokesman, Viktor Sogomonyan, said, “The Armenian side assesses the meeting in Kazan positively and considers it a positive development in the negotiating process.”

He said the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, who also took part in the meeting, will “continue the work based on the agreements reached in Kazan”.

Also participating in the meeting were the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, Yuri Merzlyakov of Russia, Bernar Facier of France, and Thoman Mann of the United States.