AZERBAIJAN, ARMENIA CAUTIOUS ON YELTSIN’S INITIATIVE.

Azerbaijani foreign minister Hassan Hassanov and Armenian presidential spokesman Levon Zurabian declined on October 10 and 11 to take a position on Russian president Boris Yeltsin’s proposal to negotiate a settlement of the Karabakh conflict at a Russian-French-Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in Moscow. Both Hassanov and Zurabian said that they had learned of Yeltsin’s proposal only from the mass media, and were reserving judgment pending receipt of more information. Zurabian additionally called for the participation of Karabakh as a sine-qua-non. Yeltsin discussed his plan with French president Jacques Chirac in Strasbourg during the Council of Europe summit. Claiming to have received Chirac’s approval, Yeltsin offered "to invite the Americans to come to Moscow too, if they wish." The French side has not clarified its actual position. (International agencies, October 10-11)

Yeltsin’s initiative appears designed to create a Russian-French combination that would reduce the U.S. role in the OSCE’s 10-country mediating group on Karabakh. The proposal would move the decisive phase of the negotiations to a small grouping, formally under Russian-French aegis, in which Russia would clearly have the upper hand. Moscow’s proposal would in effect split the OSCE forum. It also undercuts the settlement plan just worked out by the OSCE mediators and handed over by the three co-chairmen — the U.S., Russia, and France — to the parties to the conflict. As Yerevan’s and Baku’s reactions made clear, Moscow neglected to consult them before airing its proposals. All this raises further questions about Moscow’s credibility as a mediator in the Karabakh conflict.

Presidents Haidar Aliev of Azerbaijan and Levon Ter-Petrosian of Armenia held a bilateral meeting to discuss the OSCE mediators’ plan during the Council of Europe summit. In their addresses to the official session, both presidents stated that, on the whole, they found the OSCE mediators’ plan a useful basis for continuing negotiations.

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