04 10 2008 - Iran awaiting Baku and Yerevan's response to its offer for mediation- Karabakh should be recognized as a party to conflict,"

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=27264
04.10.2008 13:56 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Iran is hopeful that Armenia and Azerbaijan will have their say about Iran's proposal for mediation in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement process in the near future.

"Iran is one of the countries of the region. So, it offered to mediate tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia for soonest resolution of the Karabakh conflict," said Nasir Hamidi Zare, Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan.

"Iran will do everything in its power for establishment of normal relations between the countries of the region," he added, the Azeri Press Agency reports.

Karabakh should be recognized as party to conflict 03.10.2008 17:31 GMT+04:00 /PanARMENIAN.Net/ Format of the negotiation process is an important constituent of resolution of any conflict, since it reflects the balance of forces in the given region, said a Karabakhs-based political scientist. "The OSCE Minsk Group has evolved during the years of its existence. However, some permanent MG member states do not have tools of influence in the region. Meanwhile, a country like Iran is not represented. The main gap in the Minsk format is that participation of Nagorno Karabakh has been frozen for over 10 years already," David Babayan wrote in "Perspectives of the Nagorno Karabakh process in the light of recent geopolitical transformations" article obtained by PanARMENIAN.Net. "Nevertheless, the MG format has not been exhausted yet. Peace in the conflict zone is maintained by the Minsk Group," he wrote. Global developments will affect the Karabakh process and its format, according to Babayan. "There will be new initiatives, like the Iranian one. However, Karabakh should be recognized as a party to conflict," he wrote.

Pan Arm.